The Blades swapped places with Southampton in the summer and now it seems they are ready to make a bid for a player in one of the areas that Saints are overloaded in at the moment, defence.

The 72.co.uk have suggested that one of the targets for Chris Wilder, himself a former Southampton defenders is James Bree.

They say:

"Bree, 26, could now be seen by the South Yorkshire outfit as someone to provide competition and depth to their defensive department. He is under contract at Southampton until June 2026.

"However, his chances of getting game time in the Premier League next season under Russell Martin may be slim. Journalist Alan Nixon has reported that he has emerged on the radar of the Blades in this window as they target some more reinforcements."

The defender arrived at St Mary's from Luton Town in the January transfer window of 2023, he was seen as being very much Nathan Jones man and when Jones left a week or two later hic chances of playing were very limited.

Last season however he was a good squad player and never let the team down in any of his appearances, now I would suspect that with the club back in the Premier League, he will be very much a fringe player and it would probably be in his best interest as well as that of the club for him to move on.

If he does leave then he should not be tarred with the same brush as his former mentor, although his impact in his 5 Premier League games was limited, he would start just 2 games before Jones left and he found himself out in the cold under Selles and his other 3 appearances were a brief sub appearance and then the final two games of the season in the starting line up.

But he should not be judged on that, he started 13 games, was substituted in on another 6 and an unused sub 15 times, he didn't let us down when called upon and for that he should be thanked, he played his part in what turned out to be a successful season.

We paid only around £850 k for his services and with two years left on his contract we should hopefully be able to recoup that and a little bit more with his current value estimated at around £2 million.

Photo: Action Images

underweststand added 09:43 - Jul 29 With a new influx of defenders for RM's Prem. squad it looks as though Bree would be spending a lot of time on our bench - when he would prefer to be playing every week. Admittedly there was some truth to the statement that he.." was one of the best FB's in Championship ", but that's about his level and he' d struggle to get game time in Prem. I think there is some mileage in his career at that level, and Sheff. United would surely benefit from his experience. Hope it gets sorted... to everyone's benefit.

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Bowlercow added 11:56 - Jul 29 He did a better job for us than the guy that signed him If he goes I wish the very best of luck We however need to keep KWP
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Block8 added 17:03 - Jul 29 Bree is a decent full back and should only be allowed to go if we keep KWP. And if he did have to stay he wouldn't be the worst full back in the PL!
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TimSaint added 13:28 - Jul 30 Often did a better job at Left Back, than the actual Left Back we signed - who somehow had made it into the team of the Championship for the 22-23 season !!
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Monksway added 16:20 - Jul 30 He has developed well under RM so is a better player than the one Saints bought under Nathan Jones. If he goes hopefully it means KWP is staying but I think Saints are banking on the £18 million for KWP.
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