The Blades will pay a seven-figure fee for the young forward, as potential new owners Sheffield United have revealed

The Blades had a number of players missing for Saturday’s visit to Chesterfield, with Gustavo Hamer, Vinicius Souza, Anel Ahmedhodzic, Jamie Shackleton, Jayden Bogle, Anis Slimane and Benie Traore not included in the Sheffield United squad.

We soon learned that Jayden Bogle was absent as he was completing his move to Leeds United. Chris Wilder also told the media that Ahmedhodzic and Shackleton missed out with a groin problem. And now more details have emerged as to why another player was absent.

According to French journalist Marc Mechenoua, 21-year-old Benie Traore has not made the squad as he nears a permanent move to Swedish club FC Basel. The report claims the Blades will pocket just under £4million for the Ivorian, who has made just nine appearances in the competition for United.

Sportbladet initially claimed that Sheffield United had agreed a fee of £3.9m to acquire the Ivory Coast youth international, but it is now believed that the fee was actually much lower than quoted.

12 months ago, Paul Heckingbottom (who was the manager at the time) gave the green light to sign Traore. The former Sheffield United manager said: “We see Benie as someone who has the qualities and ability to play at the highest level”, it’s fair to say we didn’t get to see any of that before he was loaned to the Club from League 1 Nantes.

In hindsight, it was a massive error of judgment on the part of the old recruitment team and Heckingbottom; Traore was completely undersized and too raw for the Premier League. The good news for the Blades is that they will be in a position to make a decent profit on the 21-year-old, provided they insert a sell-on clause and provided Traore improves over the next two or three years.

Sheffield United have revealed their new potential owner

In other news, Unitedites have now learned the name of the person behind the takeover bid. According to Alan Nixon, Thomas Page is the businessman leading the takeover. Midlands-born Page made his fortune as a poker player before moving to Silicon Valley and launching Blonk.

It is not uncommon for football club owners to have a gambling background. Tony Bloom, owner of Brighton & Hove Albion, also made his fortune playing poker. He then invested his earnings in starting his own company, Starlizard – the company uses statistical models to predict the results of sporting events.

Bloom is not the only Premier League owner with this kind of past. Brentford owner Matthew Benham is the owner of Smartodds, where his aim is to provide patterns and research for professional punters.

The way these two clubs have been run over the years has been quite statistical and with United’s potential new owner coming from the same background, perhaps Sheffield United can run in a similar.