Sheffield United have been handed a huge boost in their bid to keep George Baldock at Bramall Lane this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by Yorkshire Live, who claim that Celtic have made the signing of a right-back, and Baldock in particular, their top priority ahead of the start of the new Scottish Premiership season.

However, the report goes on to state that Ange Postecoglou's side value the 28-year-old at a figure of around £5m, with an offer of this amount believed to be something Slavisa Jokanovic's side would not even begin to consider.

As such, it is claimed that, unless the Hoops firm up their interest with an offer significantly higher than the fee mooted - with it being reported the Blades value Baldock closer to £8m - it appears very unlikely that the defender will be leaving Bramall Lane for Celtic Park this summer.

Huge boost

With Baldock having become an increasingly important part of the Sheffield United first team in recent years, the fact that, at present, it looks as if Jokanovic will have the defender at his disposal next season is certainly a huge boost for the club.

Indeed, while last term was largely disappointing for a vast number of the Blades side, the right-back demonstrated the true capacity of his talent in the season before last.

Over his 38 Premier League appearances in the club's 2019/20 campaign, the £4.5m-rated man made an average of 0.9 interceptions, 1.6 tackles, 1.8 clearances and won 4.9 duels per game.

He also impressed for his side going forwards, scoring two goals, registering three assists and creating two big chances for his teammates, as well as making an average of 0.6 key passes per match.

These returns saw the man Garth Crooks dubbed a "superb" player earn an average SofaScore match rating of 6.83, ranking him as Chris Wilder's joint 11th-best performer in the top flight of English football that year.

As such, with Jokanovic undoubtedly hoping his side can secure an immediate return to the Premier League next season, retaining the services of a player with the ability of Baldock would certainly appear to provide the Serbian manager with a huge boost to his chances of going on to achieve this feat.

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