New Sheffield United signing Sander Berge was the subject of a bid from West Ham United in the January transfer window, but the Hammers offered more than half of the £22m fee that the Blades paid for the Norwegian.
David Moyes' side were in the market for a new central midfielder, and targeted the 21-year-old from Belgian side KRC Genk earlier in the window.
Football Insider are reporting that the east London side tabled a formal bid of around £10m for Berge, who would eventually make the move to the Blades in a transfer worth up to £22m, becoming the record signing for Chris Wilder's side in the process. It surpassed the previous record of £20m spent on Scottish striker Oliver McBurnie last summer.
Scouts from Sheffield United had been tracking the midfielder for quite some time and the Blades were reported to have tried to sign him in the summer. Wilder was said, as per sheffieldunited.news, to have travelled and watched the player in person, before giving the go-ahead for the club to start negotiations with the Belgian club.
West Ham were unwilling to stump up such a fee for the midfielder however, despite eventually paying a similar sum for the deadline-day signing of forward Jarrod Bowen from Championship side Hull City.
Late in the window, Berge was mistakenly thought to have been joining Manchester United after apparently being spotted at their training ground, but this turned out to be young goalkeeper Nathan Bishop.
Berge became a hot target for a number of top clubs after his impressive performances at Genk, while his contract was set to expire in the summer of 2021. Already regarded as one of the best young central midfielders in Europe, he has earned 20 senior caps for Norway.
On Saturday, he made his first Premier League start for the Yorkshire club in a 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace, before being substituted after 68 minutes.
Source : 90min