Chris Wilder was negotiating his pay-off from Sheffield United on Friday night, it has been revealed.

The Daily Mail says Wilder was on Friday night in severance talks with Sheffield United after long-running tensions with the Bramall Lane board finally exploded.

Wilder — already on the shortlist for possible vacancies at Crystal Palace and West Brom — spent Friday in discussion with the club after working relationships at the Premier League's bottom side finally reached breaking point.

Only last week Wilder delivered four conditions to the board that he said must be satisfied for him to continue next season.

But instead of paving a way forward, relations worsened and on Friday night Wilder's representatives were in talks with the club over how the departure of the boyhood fan and player who brought the Blades from League One to the Premier League and almost into Europe would be framed.

Club sources claimed Wilder was not being sacked and it's possible a 'mutual consent' announcement will be made.

Wilder did not take training on Friday ahead of Sunday's game at Leicester and his scheduled Friday press conference was cancelled.

Meanwhile, Wilder believes the club was handicapped by the lowest wage bill in the league.The highest earner is on around £50,000 a week while some players in the first-team pool earn as little as a basic £10,000 — low by modern standards.