Premier League outfit Leeds United have not made contact with Sheffield United at this stage for the services of their star midfielder Sander Berge, as per an update from The Star.
The 24-year-old may be one of the favourites to depart Bramall Lane this summer as a likely high earner considering he arrived at the club for a £22m fee in January 2020.
He was even the subject of intense interest last summer, with Arsenal, Everton, Aston Villa, Atalanta, Lazio and Napoli all being linked with a move for the Norwegian and La Liga club Sevilla also thought to have been weighing up a move for the midfielder.
However, a positive Covid-19 test late on in August ruled out the possibility of Berge securing a late-summer move away from South Yorkshire and with his injury troubles at the start of the 2021/22 campaign, he wasn't the subject of any reported bids in January.
He did manage to impress during the latter stages of the season, though his side were unable to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking as they lost out to Nottingham Forest in the play-off semi-final last month.
Despite his pedigree though, Football League World understands interest in his signature has evaporated at this stage and the Sheffield Star have now revealed that no contact has been made by the Whites just yet regarding his services.
The Verdict:
Considering he has two years left on his deal at Bramall Lane, this window would probably be the ideal time for the Blades to cash in on him because there are no guarantees they will win promotion next season.
If they don't, there's little chance the Norwegian will sign a new deal and the longer his deal runs down, the lower his valuation will be, so selling him now may pay dividends, even if they make a small loss on him.
£20m should be more than enough for Paul Heckingbottom's side because his previous injury issues mean they probably won't be able to make any real profit on him and £20m would allow the Blades' boss to make some decent signings.
Although they probably wouldn't spend all of that money, even half of that would probably give Heckingbottom more than he currently has at his disposal with the second-tier side's budget being noticeably limited in the past couple of windows.
Berge's salary isn't likely to be small either, so his departure could make space on the wage bill for quite a few new additions to come in. If they get a good offer, they would be fools not to cash in.