Sheffield United now in Premier League transfer race with Birmingham & Coventry | OneFootball

Frank Onyeka could be set for a Championship move this transfer window

Sheffield United are reportedly the latest Championship club who have entered the race to sign Brentford outcast, Frank Onyeka, who has recently impressed with Nigeria at the now-concluded African Cup of Nations.

That is according to the Daily Mail, with the Blades looking to make changes to their squad in order to continue pursuing an ambitious late run for the second tier play-off places under Chris Wilder.

The Steel City side had been in a rich vein of recent form in their quest to resurrect what had been a largely disastrous first period of the campaign under Ruben Selles and the boyhood United supporter, who had returned to Bramall Lane for a third stint in the dugout back in September.

It has been widely reported that United's owners, COH Sports, had adopted an AI-based transfer model in the summer, which has since been ended as the leader of consultancy firm, Short Circuit Science, who advised the club on their summer business, James Bord, is now in the process of attempting to complete his prospective takeover of cross-city rivals, Sheffield Wednesday.

Wilder had spoken for weeks on end as to how crucial the turnover which he hoped to oversee throughout the winter transfer window could play a major part in determining the club's fortunes for the remainder of the campaign.

Despite the fact no departures have been sanctioned in this particular department of his squad so far this window, the Blades have been heavily linked with a handful of experienced midfielders, all of whom are currently plying their trade in the Premier League.

With the South Yorkshire outfit currently 11 places and nine points adrift of the top six with 20 games of their season still to play, Onyeka has emerged as the latest of those potential acquisitions, although they would have to fend off reported competition from divisional rivals as well as clubs on the continent to lure the Nigerian to S2.

Frank Onyeka emerges as Sheffield United midfield target amid Birmingham City, Coventry City transfer links

As previously mentioned, the Daily Mail have claimed that United have entered the race for Onyeka's services, joining fellow Championship sides in the form of Birmingham City and league leaders, Coventry City.

The same publication also broke the interest of both Blues and Frank Lampard's side in the 28-year-old last week, whilst La Liga strugglers, Valencia CF, have also reportedly lodged an official approach for the midfielder, who has found gametime with the Bees extremely hard to come by in the past 18 months.

It is being reported that Brentford would consider a loan deal which includes an option-to-buy clause at the conclusion of the current season, or a permanent deal if an agreement could be struck between now and the transfer deadline of 7PM on Monday, February 2nd, with Onyeka's contract at the Gtech Community Stadium set to expire in just over five months' time.

Indeed, the powerful midfielder was acquired under the management of Thomas Frank in the summer of 2021 from Danish Superliga side, FC Midtjylland, on a five-year contract.

Since then, the 41-time Super Eagles international has played just 87 times for the West London club, scoring on one occasion and providing a further six assists, whilst he also spent the entirety of Frank's final season with the Bees on loan in the German Bundesliga with FC Augsburg, where he played 34 times.

So far this term, Onyeka has featured in just nine games across all competitions under Keith Andrews, whilst his current employers are currently seventh in the Premier League after a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea, which came at the same time as he watched from the bench as Nigeria came third in AFCON with a penalty-shootout success over Egypt.

This isn't the only transfer battle for a midfielder which involves both United and Coventry, with Football League World exclusively revealing last week that the Blades had joined the race for Sunderland's Dan Neil amid previous links to the West Midlands side.

However, whilst it remains to be seen if the ESTIMATED £40,000 per week earner is attracted to the Championship, Wilder may have been offered plenty of encouragement in his aims when Lampard had this to say on rumours linking Onyeka to the Sky Blues ahead of their 2-1 victory in the M69 Derby against Leicester City.

"I don’t want to give you the generic answer because I feel like I keep giving it to you," he said.

"But when I look at the team, if we can strengthen anywhere, and this is the generic answer, then I think it is something we should look at. But I am happy with my midfield."

Some United supporters may have shared the same viewpoint amid links to Neil and the experienced Ross Barkley of Aston Villa, with Wilder able to call upon the services of Sydie Peck, Ollie Arblaster and Jairo Riedwald amongst others.

However, there is no doubt that the acquisition of Onyeka would only improve the 58-year-old's options whilst offering differing attributes.