Sheffield United: Boss issues injury update over John Fleck ahead of Coventry City return

The midfielder limped off in the first half of the Blades’ 4-1 victory over Middlesbrough in midweek, after damaging a groin muscle against Chris Wilder’s side.

With a mounting injury list threatening to damage the Blades’ bid for promotion this season, losing another player for a decent period of time would be another blow to Heckingbottom.

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But the Bramall Lane boss has eased any fears that Fleck will miss a significant chunk of games between now and the end of the season.

“Everyone’s happy that he came off when he did [against Boro],” Heckingbottom said.

“It’s one of the deeper muscles in his groin, so hopefully it’s not too bad. He’ll be out for a while but he doesn’t need a scan.

“This is why I don’t like putting dates on injuries. I’ve talked before in press conferences about injuries when I’ve known players have been out for a long time and you don’t want anyone to know.

“But I think it’s days rather than weeks.”

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Heckingbottom also provided an injury update on another key man in Chris Basham, who damaged knee ligaments against Blackburn Rovers.

“That was always going to be a longer one,” Heckingbottom said.

“He won’t be back before the international break. We knew about that and had some big games coming up, so we wanted to play down our problems and not alert the opposition.

“But Bash has not been involved and training, so he’ll be a few more weeks.”

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