Aston Villa's Cameron Archer set for £18.5m move to Sheffield United
Striker Cameron Archer is close to leaving Villa and joining Sheffield United in an £18.5million deal.
The 21-year-old Walsall-born hitman is due to undergo a medical in Yorkshire later on Wednesday with the two clubs close to agreement on a fee.
Archer has been courted by numerous clubs including Crystal Palace and Luton but it is the newly-promoted Blades who appear to have won the race.
The deal will include a buy-back clause, with Villa keen to retain some control over the future of their academy product.
Archer excelled during loan spells in the Championship with Preston and Middlesbrough but while he is highly regarded by Unai Emery, is not part of the head coach’s plans in the short-term.
Villa see a permanent sale, together a buy-back clause, as preferable to another loan, with the fee also helping the club’s position with regard to Financial Fair Play.
The same policy was used in the £14m sale of midfielder Aaron Ramsey to Burnley, which was completed on Tuesday night.
That agreement also includes a buy-back clause, while Villa will not sell winger Jaden Philogene before next week’s deadline without the same stipulation in any deal.
Should Archer's move go through, it will mean Villa have banked more than £50m from the sale of academy products over the past two summers, having sold Carney Chukwuemeka to Chelsea for £20m a year ago.
