Sheffield United: £2m man open to January exit as interested club emerges | OneFootball

The Blades weren't able to find a new home for him.

Ismaila Coulibaly could end up leaving Sheffield United in the January transfer window amid links to Norwegian side Fredrisktad FK.

Before the takeover process at Bramall Lane properly got underway, the plan of the Blades was to offload some of their unwanted players in order to fund the revolutionisation of their squad, turning it from an old one that was trending downwards to a more refreshed one that is on the rise.

That switch happened, but it wasn't allowed to happen because of the sales of players like Coulibaly. According to The Star, United may have let the midfielder go in the summer had a suitable offer come in, but, despite reported talks with Belgian side Beerschot, who Coulibaly was previously on loan with, he ended up staying in the Steel City.

The 23-year-old has only made a couple of EFL Cup appearances since returning, after the end of last season, from his loan spell with AIK in Sweden. Now another move to Scandinavia could be on the cards for the Mali international.

Fredrikstad are interested in signing Coulibaly in January, as per Norwegian outlet Fredriksstad Blad. The club are said to have followed the midfielder for a long time, and he is reportedly open to the move.

Fredrikstad hope that they will be able to complete a deal with relative ease in the new year, as per the Nordic publication.

Most of the talk around the Blades' winter transfer activity has concerned incomings rather than outgoings. The takeover of the club by American group COH Sports, who are led by Ohio-based businessmen Steve Rosen and Helmy Eloukhy, should open up more opportunities for United.

But, of course, player sales would put less of a burden on the prospective new owners to heavily invest as soon as they come in, even though they appear to be more than willing to.

The Blades signed Coulibaly for £2 million in 2020, as per the Daily Mail, so would probably look to get as much of that money back in any deal they may make with Fredrikstad.

Ismaila Coulibaly sale is the exact type of move Sheffield United should look to do in January

In fairness to the Blades, they were able to offload a lot of the players in the summer that weren't going to be part of their long-term future, whether that be by way of release, sale or loan.

Coulibaly, despite his age, is probably in that category too, but yet he has remained at Bramall Lane. Capology estimates that he earns £10,000 per week. Even just losing his wages would be a handy saving for United to make.