Ipswich Town transfer rumour: Premier League Sheffield United ‘add Luke Woolfenden to their transfer shortlist’

Luke Woolfenden and Flynn Downes have been linked to Premier League and Championship clubs. Picture: ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

The defender has been a standout performer for the Blues this season, both in a back four and a back three, earning admireres higher up the football pyramid.

He has previously been linked with Queens Park Rangers but the Daily Mail are now reporting interest from Sheffield United.

The Mail say the Premier League high-flyers have 'added Woolfenden to their transfer shortlist' as they look to add to their defensive ranks.

Chris Wilder's side have risen through the leagues in recent seasons playing a distinct brand of football which sees two of their three centre-halves attacking from the flanks when the Blades are in possession.

Luke Woolfenden and Flynn Downes leave the pitch after the defeat at Lincoln City Picture Pagepix (Image: Pagepix Ltd 07976 935738)

MORE: 'If we sold one of the younger ones it's a different dynamic' - Lambert says cashing in on Downes or Woolfenden is possible

Woolfenden would fit that style perfectly, as exhibited this afternoon against Accrington Stanley when the Blues adopted a similar approach which saw the academy graduate get to the byline to cross for Kayden Jackson's opener.

Speaking on Friday, manager Paul Lambert hinted he would be willing to sell the likes of Woolfenden or fellow youngster Flynn Downes for big money, as long as the fee received was reinvested into the squad.

"The only way you would do that is if you knew, a hundred per cent, that the money was coming back into the football club... or the team," Lambert said. "It's the only way you could do it.

"The lads you've just mentioned there, nobody knows what the value is. Are they worth, I don't know, with the way football is going… 20 or 30 million?

MORE: Ratings: How the Ipswich Town players performed in their classy 4-1 home victory over Accrington Stanley

"The Championship is what the Premier League was 10/15 years ago with the level of money that's there. Look at my old club Stoke, an incredible club, sitting just outside the relegation zone. Nobody saw that, never in a million years.

"You can only buy what you can buy. If you've got an asset there that somebody wants to come in and buy, in the modern day game it doesn't matter who you are. If the money is there then people can move."

Woolfenden, who joined the club's academy at the age of 11, is contracted to the Blues until the summer of 2022.