Daniel Jebbison Sheffield United contract latest as long term absence explained

There is confidence around Sheffield United that Daniel Jebbison will agree a new contract to stay at the club, with his current deal due to run out at the end of this season.

The England youth international has been missing for the most of this season and there were fears that the highly-rated forward would leave the club when his contract runs out.

However, CEO Stephen Bettis says that there have been 'positive' talks around the player's future as he explained the reason why Jebbison hasn't been seen in a Blades shirt this season, while other young players have been getting first team opportunities.

"We are still working on [a new contract], we are having positive conversations about it at the minute," Bettis told The Star. "I think Daniel's been really unlucky in the last year to 18 months with injuries and even with that I think he's getting a bit of stick on social media from our supporters etc. I don't think they really [know what's been happening].

"I think there was one point where it was quoted that he had a 'mystery illness' or something like that. At times you are respecting the players privacy and their medical records but I know that Daniel is happy because I have spoken to him about it, that he's happy for me to say what I'm saying to you.

"We do blood tests on the players regularly to check various things and following a blood test Daniel had here, he basically got a blood clot. Then that involved that whole process of figuring out what happened, why it happened, how it can't happen again.

"For a time he was on blood thinners so obviously he can't play because if he gets a cut or anything, that stops him. That's all been resolved and Daniel is fine again and there's no issues and he can play, but he's come back and he hasn't played for such a long time that naturally at times you pick up injuries because your body's not been training every single day.

"So I really feel sorry for Daniel but he's close to coming back and I think he will play for us before the end of this season, he'll get games for us which will be great.

"We as a club, he is someone we would love to get him nailed down to a longer term contract and as I say we are having positive discussions with him now. With everything that went on, he wasn't in a place where they wanted him to talk about it until they had figured all of this out."