Sheffield United striker from last season is not being pursued by Championship club as he eyes Premier League move | OneFootball

Sheffield United striker Cameron Archer is set to return to Aston Villa in the summer. Following the club’s relegation from the Premier League, a buy-back clause will be triggered by the Villans.

There have been rumours stating that Middlesbrough want to bring Archer back to the Riverside stadium. However, according to The Northern Echo Boro are not seeking a reunion as it stands. Under the tutelage of Michael Carrick, the Aston Villa academy product netted 11 goals and provided six assists across 23 matches in his Championship loan spell in the 2022/23 season.

With the form he showed in the Championship, having bagged 18 goals and seven assists in 40 second tier games, when the Blades eventually managed to land the signature of Archer last August there was a real buzz among the supporters to see if he can replicate that impact in the top flight. But as we found out, he couldn’t.

Aston Villa’s Cameron Archer deal with Sheffield United

United paid approximately £18 million for the 22-year-old back in the summer, per Football Insider, with the contract including a buy-back clause if the club were to be relegated. This has now come into effect, and Archer is expected to rejoin Aston Villa as soon as the English transfer window opens for £14 million, according to Football Insider. Essentially, this amounts to Sheffield United paying a £4 million loan fee for his services, during which time Archer has scored four goals in 27 Premier League appearances.

Despite his lack of goals for the Premier League’s worst side, the former England youth international received plenty of praise by former Aston Villa player Alan Hutton and former Premier League manager Harry Redknapp. In fact, Hutton likened Archer to Villa’s talisman Ollie Watkins and even claimed back in March that he has very similar attributes to the England star.

Archer on the move again this transfer window?

It is no secret that Aston Villa need to sell players in order to fund new signings due to their Financial Fair Play situation. And one of their departures will be Cameron Archer, but he is reportedly wanting to stay in the Premier League.

Perhaps Premier League newcomers Ipswich Town will be of interest in him. Kieran McKenna’s former colleague Michael Carrick got the best out of him in the 2022/23 term,  so maybe the former Manchester United midfielder will be kind enough to brief McKenna on Archer.

My view on the Archer deal

With the situation we were in last season I can totally understand this type of deal taking place, however, it’s deals like this that have landed us in the mess we’re in. And it’s the same principle with the Iliman Ndiaye contract saga, Tommy Doyle and James McAtee scenario etc; we allow teams to dictate to us and bully us because we seemingly have no progression plan put in place in the squad. We have to improve on that this summer.

Signing loan players with no options of securing permanent deals has to be a focus otherwise we will just be repeating the same bad habits over and over again. And once again it will leave us with gaping holes in the squad to fill.  It’s the same principle with the Archer deal.