Rhian Brewster Sheffield United injury latest as key teammate continues “complex” recovery

Sheffield United were keeping their fingers crossed last night for the results of Rhian Brewster’s latest scan as the striker continues his recovery from a hamstring injury that has kept him sidelined for almost a year. Brewster needed surgery to correct the issue and it has been a long and frustrating road back to fitness for the Blades’ record signing.

Brewster was seen doing some finishing work in pre-season in Portugal and has since progressed to joining in with some team sessions at Shirecliffe, with United mindful of managing his workload to avoid the risk of a setback. He is one of a number of Blades players currently sidelined but has been included in the 25-man Premier League squad, so will be able to play when he does return to full fitness.

“Rhian has had another scan, which we hope goes well,” boss Paul Heckingbottom said ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur. “He’s been training, we are just going through everything bit by bit. He’s been doing a lot of work and a lot of training with us and he’s keen to join in. But with his history, everyone is trying to protect him from himself at the minute and make sure every box is ticked.

“The medical team have the blinkers on to make sure he’s in the best place. He’s trained with us already but not flat out, because we’ve been protecting him and making sure he only does the things that we are happy with him doing. Hopefully, that moment comes soon when we get him back properly but again we need patience. That’s the bit he’s missed.”

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Rhys Norrington-Davies, the Welsh international defender, has missed a similar amount of time to Brewster with a serious hamstring issue suffered away at Coventry, which wrecked his World Cup dream last winter. He also went under the knife, with Heckingbottom describing his situation as “complex”. “He’s progressing,” the manager added. “It’s a complex situation with Rhys but he’s working hard and they [medical staff] are getting him to a level now where they are really pleased.”

There was more positive news over midfielder John Fleck, who suffered a second fracture of the leg in pre-season against Girona. He went under the knife to have a metal plate inserted to help the healing process and is now back in training. “He no longer has the pot on and I actually think he might have been out on the grass running [on Thursday],” Heckingbottom said.

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“Part of the reason why the medical team chose to have that pot on was how well that similar injury healed. He didn’t have the op and came back still trying to play with it, which meant it took an age to heal. As soon as he had the plate put in, it healed great and we got him back fit and playing again.”

Striker Daniel Jebbison remains sidelined with an illness while Max Lowe has undergone surgery on a freak ankle ligament injury he suffered after stepping on a sprinkler in pre-season away at Derby County. Ben Osborn is also out with a groin injury and is expected to miss the next few weeks of the campaign, while Ismaila Coulibaly is also sidelined.