Matt Grimes emerges as target for Sheffield United

It has been reported today that Matt Grimes is a transfer target for Sheffield United who are making preparations for a season in the Championship again after their relegation last time around.

The Blades are back in the second tier of football just twelve months after they departed it for a place at the top table, a place that yielded them a total of just sixteen points after their recorded just three wins in the thirty-eight match season.

A proposed takeover by a Silicon Valley-based US consortium is under discussion at the moment and Alan Nixon (not always the most reliable source) has reported that they have targeted Grimes, alongside Norwich’s Scottish international midfielder Kenny McLean as two clear focuses for their transfer activity.

The uncertainty around the takeover has hampered some of their transfer activity this summer but Chris Wilder has still managed to sign Jamie Shackleton and Sam McCallum following their departures from Leeds United and Norwich City thus far.  Keiffer Moore is expected to be added to those signings as he moves from Bournemouth whilst Callum O’Hare is also expected to join up at Bramall Lane.

The ambitious swoop though for two midfielders who are seen as key to their respective clubs would be a big statement of intent although naturally there will be resistance from both clubs who currently hold the contracts for the two players.

Swans skipper Grimes has more than three hundred appearances under his belt for the club and has been first choice in midfield to multiple managers since our relegation from the Premier League in 2018.   Whilst he has more than his fair share of critics at the club we should not lose sight of the faith that those managers have put in him and, should we choose to cash in, then Luke Williams will have to be certain that he has a replacement lined up.   This week’s signing of Gonçalo Franco would go some way of doing that but, at the same time, fans are very much seeing them playing together not the latter being a replacement for Grimes.

The other question comes around whether Grimes would want to leave Swansea.  His family is settled here and he has always come across as a player who values that consistency in his home life as much as anything in his professional life.  Of course there is always the possibility that money can turn anyone’s head and we know that the Blades arrive in the Championship with a Premier League parachute payment in their pocket and a potential cash injection that a takeover could bring.

Grimes may well take a look at a Swansea legend as well in any decision that needs to be made.  Leon Britton’s move to Sheffield United in 2010 was short lived and temporary and the very nature of the Blades football is substantially removed from the style that has tried to be played by successive managers in charge in SA1.  Grimes has always been praising of that kind of football suiting his style and that will come into any decision making should it come to that.

It is difficult to know what the Swans would do should the Blades come knocking.  As we know with our financial position, money does indeed talk and with Grimes turning twenty-nine tomorrow that could lead to us making the decision that we need to maximise any transfer value and reinvest back into the team.  Maybe.

This whole position is one to keep an eye on closely – the summer could yet spring a surprise departure after all?