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Sheffield United linked with cut-price summer move for Middlesbrough striker
Fletcher is out of contract with Boro in the summer and the Blades are reportedly considering a move for him at the end of the season
www.examinerlive.co.uk
They`l have the parachute payments, so maybe....
Sheffield United linked with cut-price summer move for Middlesbrough striker Ashley Fletcher
Fletcher is out of contract with Boro in the summer and the Blades are reportedly considering a move for him at the end of the season
Sheffield United are preparing for the looming prospect of relegation to the Championship and their plans reportedly involve Middlesbrough striker Ashley Fletcher.
Fletcher is out of contract with Boro at the end of the season and Football League World report that he is on the Blades’ radar for a cut-price summer move.
Sheffield United are rooted to the bottom of the Premier League and are 14 points from safety with nine matches remaining.
The Blades have parted company with Chris Wilder, with Under-23s boss Paul Heckingbottom taking charge until the end of the season, and are braced to start the 2021/22 campaign in the Championship.
United currently have strikers Oli McBurnie, Lys Mousset, Billy Sharp, David McGoldrick, Rhian Brewster and Oli Burke contracted to the club.
However, the contracts of Mousset, McGoldrick and Sharp are set to expire next summer and the report states that Fletcher is seen as another option to help the Blades make a swift return to the top-flight.
The 25-year-old former West Ham striker has scored two goals and provided one assist in 10 Championship matches for Middlesbrough this season, while he has also netted twice in the Carabao Cup.
He has been a bit-part player for Neil Warnock’s side in recent months, having missed 26 games with a hamstring injury which kept him out of action between September to January.
Fletcher scored in wins over Huddersfield and Reading last month and his form prompted questions about his future.
“If he goes I [will] replace him,” Warnock said in February.
"It's up to him, he's a good lad and he's worked so hard for four months. If he can finish top scorer I'll be more than delighted."
Middlesbrough are currently ninth in the Championship, six points adrift of the play-off places following their 1-0 defeat by Millwall on Saturday.
Fletcher played the second half at The Den and Warnock confirmed post-match that talks over a new contract for the 6ft striker won’t take place until the end of the season.
“We’ve only got nine games so we just have to concentrate on these games and then discussions I’m sure will take place in the summer,” he said.
Fletcher would reportedly have to take a pay cut if he wants to extend his stay at the Riverside.
He joined Middlesbrough on a four-year deal from West Ham in 2017 in a £6.5million transfer, a year after the Hammers signed him from Manchester United.
