"Not too sure" - Sheffield United "surprise" issued over Liverpool, Tyler Morton interest | OneFootball

FLW's Sheffield United fan pundit only wants to see a permanent deal for Liverpool midfielder Tyler Morton, who is a target but on loan

Sheffield United have been encouraged to avoid striking a loan deal for Tyler Morton, with permanent terms preferred for the Liverpool midfielder.

The Blades are sure to be active in the January transfer window, as they bid to beef up their promotion charge following COH Sports' successful and long-awaited takeover.

Chris Wilder cleared house in the summer by sanctioning a host of incomings while moving on many of the old guard, meaning mere fine-tuning of the squad appears to be the best strategy in order to get over the line and back into the Premier League come the end of the season.

That's a real possibility for the Blades, who find themselves in second place, only behind league leaders Leeds United on goal difference.

Although their 11-match unbeaten run across the festive period was ended abruptly in a 2-0 defeat at home to promotion rivals Burnley on Boxing Day, United still appear strong value to gain promotion this term, and their chances at doing so will be increased by acquiring fresh faces in January.

Sheffield United's transfer interest in Liverpool's Tyler Morton

As exclusively revealed by Football League World last week, Sheffield United are stepping up talks to sign Morton on loan from Liverpool for the second-half of the season.

It's understood that Wilder has identified the ex-Blackburn Rovers and Hull City loanee as a target to replace Ollie Arblaster in his midfield, with the young skipper poised to miss the rest of the season after rupturing his ACL in last month's Steel City Derby victory over Sheffield Wednesday.

Any such move for Morton will only be aided by the completion of the club's takeover, with fresh funds doubtless to be made available.

United's pursuit, of course, is of a loan agreement for Morton, who is on the fringes of Arne Slot's first-team squad after returning from a successful spell at the MKM Stadium last time out.

However, United may be better-served in the long-run by pushing through to acquire the ex-England youth international on a permanent basis.

Sheffield United told to sign Liverpool FC's Tyler Morton permanently instead of on loan

We asked our Blades fan pundit, Jimmy, whether he believes the 22-year-old midfield man is required for the remainder of the campaign.

Jimmy is skeptical about his side acquiring Morton on loan given they've already used three loan spots on Harry Souttar, Alfie Gilchrist and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi and therefore have just two remaining, both of which Wilder is reportedly keen to utilise.

With that in mind, Jimmy would be much more open to a permanent switch for Morton, although Liverpool's stance on negotiating such terms remains unclear for the time being.

"Tyler Morton is a good operator at Championship level, I like him," Jimmy told Football League World.

"But I'm not too sure he's what we need. We certainly need a central midfielder, with Ollie Arblaster's injury we're struggling in that department, but Chris Wilder has talked about bringing in experienced operators.

"He's a young player, he does have experience at the level so perhaps he does improve us slightly. I think we'd have to be looking at a permanent deal instead of utilising our two vital loan spots that remain on Morton personally.