Chris Wilder's concerning verdict on Harry Souttar injury after Sheffield United star limps off v Burnley

Sheffield United have a real injury concern over Harry Souttar after the giant defender limped off in their Boxing Day defeat to Burnley, with manager Chris Wilder admitting: “It didn’t look great.” The Leicester City loanee has been one of the key men in United’s impressive first half of the season but could become the latest injury absentee for Wilder’s men.

The blow forced United to finish the 2-0 defeat to Scott Parker’s men with 10 men and increased the sense of frustration after their first home defeat of the season, and Michael Cooper conceding his first goals at Bramall Lane in United colours. Goals in either half from Josh Brownhill and Zian Flemming settled a tight game in Burnley’s favour, before Souttar went down after losing his footing on the turf and had to be helped from the pitch by medical staff after damaging his left ankle.

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“We lost Rhys Norrington-Davies to illness and Rhian [Brewster] wasn’t great in the last couple of days,” said Wilder, who was forced to take off Vini Souza at half-time after his recent injury absence and missed Jesurun Rak-Sakyi from the squad completely. “Vini’s hamstring tightened up and Jes wasn’t able to be involved because of a tight hamstring he had off the back of the game at Cardiff.

“They’re minor blows, but there might be a big blow coming with Souttar because that didn’t look great, and his reaction to coming off wasn't good. He's a brave old soldier but that didn't look great. So we'll have to wait and see what the results of the scans are. It doesn't look good, but we'll see what happens when the results of the scan come through.”