Blades to receive seven figure fee for young forward as Sheffield United potential new owner revealed | OneFootball

The Blades had a number of players missing for Saturday’s visit to Chesterfield, with Gustavo Hamer, Vinicius Souza, Anel Ahmedhodzic, Jamie Shackleton, Jayden Bogle, Anis Slimane and Benie Traore not included in the Sheffield United team sheet.

We soon learned that Jayden Bogle was absent because he was completing his transfer to Leeds United. Chris Wilder also told the media that Ahmedhodzic and Shackleton missed out due to a groin issue. And now more details have surfaced as to why another player was absent.

According to French journalist Marc Mechenoua, Benie Traore, 21, was not part of the squad as he closes in on a permanent departure to Swedish club FC Basel. The report claims the Blades will pocket just under £4 million for the Ivorian, who only made a total of nine competitive appearances for United.

Sportbladet initially claimed that Sheffield United agreed a fee of £3.9m to acquire the Ivory Coast youth international, however it is now believed that the fee was actually much less than the one quoted.

12 months ago Paul Heckingbottom (who was the manager at the time) gave the green light to sign Traore. The former Sheffield United manager said: “we see Benie as someone who has the qualities and the ability to play at the top level”, it’s fair to say we didn’t get to see any of that before he was shipped out on loan to Ligue 1 club Nantes.

In hindsight, it was a massive misjudgment by the old recruitment team and Heckingbottom; Traore was completely undersized and too raw for the Premier League. The good news for the Blades is that they will be in line to make a decent profit on the 21-year-old providing they insert a sell-on clause, and providing Traore improves over the next two or three years.

SHEFFIELD, ENGLAND – AUGUST 05: Benie Traore of Sheffield United in action during the pre-season friendly match between Sheffield United and VfB Stuttgart at Bramall Lane on August 05, 2023 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Graham Chadwick/Getty Images)

Sheffield United potential new owner revealed

In other news, Unitedites have now learned the name of the person that’s behind the takeover bid. According to Alan Nixon, Thomas Page is the businessman fronting the takeover. Page, born in the MIdlands, made his fortunes as a poker player before moving to Silicon Valley and launching Blonk.

It is not uncommon for football club owners to have a past in gambling. Brighton & Hove Albion owner Tony Bloom also made his fortunes from playing poker. He then invested his winnings into starting his own company, Starlizard – the company uses statistical models to predict outcomes of sporting events.

Bloom isn’t the only Premier League owner with this type of background. Brentford owner, Matthew Benham, is the owner of Smartodds where its purpose is to provide models and research for professional gamblers.

The way these two clubs have been run over the years has been in quite a statistical way, and given United’s potential new owner is from the same background, perhaps Sheffield United may run in a similar fashion.