Sheffield United set to seal £18.5m deal for Aston Villa’s Cameron Archer | OneFootball

As reported by David Ornstein of The Athletic, Sheffield United are set to sign Cameron Archer from Aston Villa in an £18.5m deal.

The deal will also see the Villans retain a buy-back option should they want to resign their academy product in the future, and, with the two Premier League sides said to be close to reaching an agreement with one another, the England youth international is scheduled to undergo a medical this Wednesday.

Having impressed during a six-month loan spell with Preston North End in the 2021/22 campaign, the 21-year-old was given a chance in Villa’s senior squad at the beginning of the following season, but, featured in just 267 league minutes in Steven Gerrard’s struggling side and was subsequently resent on loan to the Championship- joining Middlesborough.

Following this move, the clinical striker had an excellent second half of the season under Michael Carrick, scoring 11 and assisting six in just 20 league appearances- whilst maintaining a shot conversation rate of 30%. These performances were crucial in helping Boro achieve a fourth place finish in the table as they narrowly missed out on promotion, and consequently secured him a place in England’s U21 squad- where his two goals in five appearances contributed to his nation claiming the Under-21 European Championship.

Sheffield will hope Archer can replicate these performances at Bramall Lane this coming season, as they aim to to fill in the goalscoring void left by last season’s top scorer Iliman Ndiaye- who joined his boyhood side Marseille for €17m earlier this summer.

Having failed to win either of their two Premier League fixtures so far, this move will come as much needed reinforcement in Paul Heckingbottom’s side, who will be looking complete the difficult task of avoiding relegation in their first season back in the English top flight.

Travis Levison | Get Football