Sheffield United's John Lundstram dilemma with midfielder up for sale in January

The Merseysider has not signed the new deal which has been on the table since last season, and with his current arrangement due to expire in the summer, the Blades will try to cut their losses on him if they can.

Surprisingly, perhaps, given the level of his performances last season, there was no firm interest in the 26-year-old in the last transfer window, and even if there is in the next, it could be that Lundstram prefers to wait until the end of the season to move, when he can negotiate a free transfer and in all likelihood a larger signing-on fee as a result.

Wilder appears to have lost patience with the situation.

“It’s been very frustrating for myself personally,” he admitted. “I want John to stop here. We've been in discussions for quite a number of months regarding him stopping.

“It’s not a situation I have had to encounter too many times here, players going into the last year of their contracts. Discussions have taken place before that because we don't act like that as a football club.

“We have offered John a very, very attractive contract as far as I'm concerned and as far as the football club's concerned. It's up there with the top(-earning) players at the football club and he's made a decision with his agent that he doesn’t want to sign it.

“That’s fine and I respect that. He's still a Sheffield United player so he's still available for selection.

“There are three options for me, it's quite straight-forward - he runs down his contract, that's not ideal for us; we try to recoup some value from the player in the January (transfer) window, which is the best (available) option for Sheffield United or the best option of all is that he signs that new and improved contract. That won’t happen, which is unfortunate.

“He most probably wants to run his contract down but we will ask for or invite offers for a very good player that's had his first season in the Premier League and did really well, especially in the early part of it.”

Lundstram was one of seven players the Blades tried to reward with new contracts last season, and is the only one still to commit.

Having barely featured in the club's 2018-19 promotion season, a change of formation from 3-4-1-2 to 3-5-2 allowed him to blossom in the Premier League, scoring five goals. Initially it seemed January's then-club-record signing of Sander Berge threatened his place but he remained a mainstay.

Released by Everton as a youngster without making a first-team appearance for them, Lundstram joined the Blades on a free transfer from Oxford United in 2017.

The importance of Lundstram's goal threat from midfield is perhaps amplified by the absence through injury of John Fleck for the next four weeks, although he has not found the net since the final game of last season. Wilder must decide whether it is better to go with players who see their futures at Bramall Lane.

“I’ll move on, I’ll not think too much about it,” he said. “I’ve got to concentrate on players who want to commit and sign here, like (John) Fleck, (Enda) Stevens, (Oliver) Norwood, (Billy) Sharp, (Chris) Basham, (John) Egan and the new players have.

“We feel it’s a very good offer and there’s always two sides to it. John and his agent feel they maybe want to negotiate elsewhere.

“I’ve got to make that (selection) decision, with a short-, medium- and long-term view. Should I side behind the players who have committed to us or a player who doesn't want to be at the football club?

“I believe if John does play, he will do his best. I wouldn’t pick him if I didn't think he wasn’t in the right frame of mind but I’ve got to think quite hard with it.

“I'm very, very frustrated about that.

“Cards on the table, I think John should have signed it. But he doesn’t.”

Fleck is not the Blades' only injury concern at the moment, with striker Lys Mousset out until December with a toe injury, and centre-back Jack O'Connell not expected to play again this season.

Max Lowe is fit to return at home to Manchester City on Saturday. He was back in full training before last week's trip to Liverpool having had his debut against Fulham cut short by concussion, but protocols around that meant he was unavailable at Anfield.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you'll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click HERE to subscribe.