Chris Wilder has broken his silence on the news of Leeds United’s bid for Sheffield United midfielder Gustav Hamer.
Hamer was in action for the first time since Leeds’ bid became public when he came off the bench in the Blades’ 1-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Barnsley.
Leeds are said to have bid around £13m for the former Coventry City star, which their Yorkshire rivals were quick to scoff at.
Reports from Holland suggest that Hamer has indeed agreed personal terms with Leeds ahead of the proposed move, but the Whites have yet to offer again.
Sheffield United have told Leeds to raise their bid by at least £5m, but at this stage it looks unlikely they will return
Wilder responded to an offer from Leeds Hamer
Wilder spoke after the game at Oakwell and it’s fair to say he wasn’t too happy with the way Leeds tried to sign their best player.
Leeds have already signed Jayden Bogle from the Blades this summer and their strategy to secure that signing has Wilder pretty upset too.
All in all, it was quite a difficult night for Wilder as another of his players, Anis Slimane, was also the subject of a pre-match bid from Norwich City, so he decided to withdraw from the squad.
But he did discuss Hamer’s offer in detail, telling BBC Radio Sheffield he did not know if Leeds would return, before criticizing their strategy.
He said: “I thought Gus Hamer was outstanding. We had a chat with Gus, obviously there was speculation about him, but he showed the energy, the urgency that I’m looking for and he lit up the game.
“He picked up the ball, drove, had about 3 shots in 10 minutes – we have to bring that urgency into the game. He took risks and showed what a good player he is. I didn’t see an ounce of that speculation in his performance tonight.
“I don’t know [if they will make another offer]. I really don’t know what they are thinking. Everyone knows what the offer is. They took £120m and they are trying to get our player for what the offer is. I don’t know what it was intended, but it didn’t do anything, and it didn’t from Gus’s point of view either.”
Leeds move on Ao Tanaka
In any case, it seems unlikely that Leeds will take Hamer again, so the fact that the offer was lower than what Sheffield United paid last summer is no surprise that Wilder is furious.
Instead, Leeds appear to have moved on to other targets as talks are underway with Fortuna Dusseldorf over midfielder Ao Tanaka.
Reports suggest Tanaka has a £2.65m release clause in his contract with the German side and Leeds would be willing to trigger it.
If Leeds were to bring him in, it would be hard to see them opting for Hamer either, with their two best positions at number eight.