Sheffield United told Ipswich Town might offer Philip Billing "a better financial package" | OneFootball

FLW's Sheffield United Fan Pundit is convinced that Philip Billing is the type of player Blades desperately need

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Both Sheffield United and Ipswich Town are reportedly monitoring Philip Billing's situation at Bournemouth, with the Cherries working to get rid of the midfielder permanently this summer, according to journalist Gianluca Di Marzio.

Bournemouth have apparently set an initial asking price of around £8.6m for Billing, though no concrete bids have been tabled to date.

The Dane spent the second half of last season on loan at Napoli, appearing ten times for the Italian outfit to help them win the Serie A title.

Philip Billing is "exactly" what Sheffield United need

FLW's Sheffield United Fan Pundit, Jimmy from Blades Ramble, is convinced that Philip Billing is the type of player the South Yorkshire side desperately need following their poor start to the new Championship season.

"Billing is exactly what we need in the middle of the park," he told FLW.

"I think, to be honest, I’ll be surprised if we get him because with Ipswich being involved - and they have so much money behind them - they could probably put together a better financial package than us," Jimmy added.

There's certainly some initial hope that Billing could be the ideal successor to Vini Souza, who departed for Wolfsburg in a £13m deal earlier this summer.

"But in terms of what Sheffield United need, yeah absolutely. We need a Vini Souza replacement, somebody who can win the ball in the middle, he can do a little bit of everything Billing," Jimmy continued.

"A lot of Blades have been long time admirers of him, and now, particularly with our poor start, it just seems like a little bit too good to be true."

Yorkshire connection unlikely to be a pulling factor for Philip Billing

Billing's previous stint at Huddersfield Town between 2013–2019 means he has strong ties to Yorkshire, having developed through the Terriers' youth system before breaking into their first team.

The big Dane made 112 Championship appearances during his time at the John Smith's Stadium, managing to find the back of the net 21 times whilst grabbing 15 assists.

However, Jimmy doesn't think this Yorkshire connection will have a big influence on Billing's final decision, telling FLW: "I’m not so sure that the pull of Yorkshire would be a major factor in it, but it just depends whether he feels he will get more game time at Sheffield United than Ipswich, and he probably starts for both, let's be honest."

United have only managed to bring in Djibril Soumare on loan from Braga as a potential Souza replacement - and all three of Jamie Shackleton, Ollie Arblaster and Tom Davies are yet to play in 25/26 due to injury.

With this being said, Jimmy claims Billing would certainly be an ideal signing: "At this level, I think he’s a really strong player, so I’m not holding my hopes out for him, but if it happens I’ll be over the moon."

There's no doubt that Billing has the quality to bench any central midfielder at Sheffield United - even when the three injured ones are back to full fitness - but it remains to be seen whether the club are serious about making an acceptable bid for him at this stage, let alone fending off Ipswich's apparent interest.