James McAtee in line for Sheffield United debut at West Brom after coach drops hint over Man City starlet

McAtee was an unused substitute on Saturday as United beat Millwall at Bramall Lane, his first experience of a Blades matchday after arriving earlier that week on loan from City.

Boss Paul Heckingbottom said afterwards that he and United’s coaching staff have not yet had sufficient chance to work with the highly-rated 19-year-old, and impress on him the importance of his work without the ball.

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But an EFL Cup tie against West Brom represents an opportunity for the Blades to make changes, with Max Lowe and Reda Khadra amongst those who could also make their first starts of the season.

“We'll look to get him minutes, for sure,” McCall said of McAtee.

“We have other guys in that position as well, there's no doubt about it. You want to win every game but we're making changes, as I'm sure West Brom will be.

“But it won't be a raft of changes, we want to win the game and get through to the next round. but there are guys on the bench who need game time and have been training really well.

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“So it'll be a good, balanced group and one we're sure are capable of going and putting in a really strong performance.”

“Reda comes into that bracket as well,” McCall added.

“Lowey was on the bench, McAtee too. And Tommy Doyle's knocking on the door to be involved very soon.”

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