Sheffield United transfer latest with Iliman Ndiaye set to leave and the Blades eyeing up Brazilian Vinicius Souza.
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00:00 The day that all Sheffield United fans have been dreading all summer is rapidly approaching
00:04 after a deal for Sheffield United to sell their star man, Illuminate Jai, to Marseille
00:09 was struck over the weekend. Jai of course played and scored for Sheffield United in
00:13 their 3-1 friendly victory at Derby on Saturday afternoon. Just over 24 hours later he was
00:19 on a flight over the Channel to France to put the finishing touches to the deal where
00:24 he was met late on that night by some jubilant Marseille supporters who welcomed him back
00:30 to the club where he of course spent some time earlier in his career when he was a young
00:35 boy. For United there's an obvious disappointment there to lose their star man, especially so
00:40 close to the start of the Premier League season which kicks off in less than two weeks time
00:43 now at home to Crystal Palace. And a real blow as well for supporters who were looking
00:48 forward to seeing a generational talent like N'Jai wearing their colours at the highest
00:54 level of the Premier League. United had initially been pretty relaxed about N'Jai's future
00:59 this summer despite the fact that it dominated the news agenda pretty much ever since United
01:04 were promoted with that contract status in the background and perhaps forcing United's
01:08 hand but United did not receive a bid from Marseille until quite recently. There was
01:14 little initial contact between the two parties and United were actually pretty confident
01:19 on getting his signature on a new contract and that became a close possibility during
01:24 the pre-season tour to Portugal earlier this month. But then everything changed when N'Jai's
01:29 camp informed the club that he did want the move after all and after that sort of conversation
01:34 the focus did shift towards getting the best possible fee for a player who as we all know
01:39 would have left on a free transfer in less than a year's time now as things stood. We
01:44 understand United have struck a deal for around £20m for N'Jai this summer. That of course
01:50 is a fraction of what the player's true worth is, what he really could have gone for if
01:54 he had a few more years on his contract status but the fact that he didn't meant the ball
01:59 was never really in United's court in terms of this deal and getting the best price possible.
02:05 There was genuine belief that he would sign a new contract this summer, as we said they
02:09 got very close while United were out in Portugal. A deal was agreed, there was a press release
02:15 compiled featuring quotes from Paul Hackingbottom and Stephen Bettis, the chief executive, in
02:22 preparation for the initial announcement and to go alongside that United's brilliant social
02:27 media team even put together an excellent and quite emotional video to go along with
02:33 that announcement which culminated in N'Jai being given that iconic number 10 shirt which
02:39 of course has been vacant ever since Billy Sharp left earlier that summer and Sharp as
02:43 well even featured in the video he had a little bit of a voice over at the end wishing Illerman
02:49 and his former team mate wishing him all the best in the number that he himself Sharp wore
02:54 with such distinction. But unfortunately now we'll never see that happen, N'Jai will never
02:59 wear that iconic number 10 shirt and United have to now move on. They're looking at two
03:03 reinforcements with the money ahead of the new season. We understand that's a forward
03:07 and a midfielder. One player that they are, they do have a big interest in is the Brazilian
03:14 midfielder Vinicius Souza who spent last season on loan in La Liga Espanyol and he was there
03:21 at Manchester City's training base last week to watch the Blades friendly against Girona.
03:28 Elsewhere United hope to secure a breakthrough in Benny Traore's visa situation and that
03:34 will be a welcome boost as Paul Ekinbottom and his team begin to prepare for life without