The Sheffield United star is priced at £20m, with clubs across Europe reporting an interest

Sheffield United defender Anel Ahmedhodzic is highly likely to be sold by Sheffield United this summer and it is no surprise that the Bosnia international is attracting interest from clubs across Europe.

The 25-year-old joined the Blades in the summer of 2022 in a deal worth around £4m. He started his career at Sheffield United in incredible form and it was pretty clear from the start that the club had done a deal for a promising defender.

In the early months of his time under Paul Heckingbottom, he consistently showed both his attacking and defensive abilities. Marauding runs down the right, scoring goals, assisting others and making last ditch challenges in the defensive third has quickly become a regular occurrence.

However, due to a bad case of glandular fever during the winter, the performance level suffered because of it. But, he regained some of that form before the end of the 2022/23 campaign. Ahmedhodzic would end the Championship campaign with six goals and two assists in 34 appearances while helping to keep 16 clean sheets.

Many of the Sheffield United faithful believed Ahmedhodzic was set for a move up to the Premier League after securing automatic promotion.

Sheffield United’s Bosnian defender #15 Anel Ahmedhodzic (L) competes with English midfielder #15. Nottingham Forest’s 10 Morgan Gibbs-White (R) during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United at The City Ground in Nottingham, central England, on August 18, 2023. (Photo by Darren Staples/AFP)

Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that this would not be the case. Although he maintained his attacking threat, scoring two goals in 31 top-flight games, the former Malmo player kept just one clean sheet.

Of course, it will always be a struggle to ask the likes of Ahmedhodzic and Auston Trusty to step up in the absence of two veteran defenders: John Egan and Chris Basham, two of whom have amassed 171 Premier League appearances between them. Meanwhile, Ahmedhodzic was making his English chart debut with Trusty.

However, his overall performances were yet another disappointment as the Bramall Lane faithful had high hopes for the 25-year-old. Although he had a strangely good performance when Chris Wilder was brought back to the club, it was still a massive disappointment as he etched his name into the Premier League’s unwanted history: the Blades hold the record for the worst defense (104 goals conceded ) in the history of competitions.

Despite the poor results in the season just finished, it is obvious that Anel Ahmedhodzic has some very good attributes. Maybe moving to a team with better players around him will bring out his potential. Only time will tell.

Italian giants Napoli are known to be interested in the Sheffield United centre-back, and now The Mirror report that Atalanta are also keen on signing the Bosnian.

Gian Gasperini, Atalanta’s coach, is known for implementing the 3-5-2/5-3-2 system. In fact, the 66-year-old was the mastermind behind the infamous ‘overlapping centre-back system’ that Chris Wilder began implementing during his League One days with the Blades.

Over the years, Gasperini has slightly altered elements of his system, but the full-backs and wide centre-backs have remained. Given Ahmedhodzic’s attacking nature, perhaps the newly crowned UEFA Europa League champions would be seen as an attractive move.

The report also claims that Chelsea have shown interest in the United defender. His current price tag is £20m, but he is said to have a release clause set at £17m.