Sheffield United’s injury crisis appears to be easing a tad ahead of the season opener with Watford in a weeks time.
The Blades headed into pre-season with a couple of injuries on the books. The likes of Jayden Bogle, Rhian Brewster, Oli McBurnie, Billy Sharp, and of course, Jack O’Connell, all went into the summer at different stages of their recovery.
Of course, time has moved on and United are seeing players come back to fitness. Brewster has featured heavily in pre-season, while Billy Sharp is set to come back this week. Bogle and O’Connell remain longer term problems, but there hasn’t been much said about Oli McBurnie. Well, until now.
Speaking to Yorkshire Live, United boss Paul Heckingbottom has said the Scotland international is edging closer to being back, admitting McBurnie was still feeling pain during the pre-season trip to Portugal.
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“Oli’s been out for a length of time, so he’ll be longer coming back than Bill. He was still getting pain in the area in pre-season, so we were reluctant to push and risk, but he’s been reporting that he’s pain free when pushing and changing direction, which is good news,” Heckingbottom told YL.
“So if he stays pain free when he’s putting load on, twisting and training, he’ll fly through it then.”
Our View: Big Season For McBurnie And Sheffield United
There is no doubt that this is a make or break season for Oli Mac. He is the ultimate marmite player among fans and needs a good season with goals to prove the doubters wrong.
He showed in that first season in the Premier League he can do the business, and he’s done it with Swansea at this level as well. McBurnie has, in fairness, had some rotten luck in terms of injuries. But if he can get over this one and then stay fit, there’s a role for him in this team.
McBurnie might need to be patient at times. But certain games will suit him. He simply needs that elusive goal and from there, as we saw with Brewster, things could pick up for him.
