Sheffield United excited over “fantastic” Benie Traore as new boy checks in after visa delay

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom is set to finally begin working with new signing Benie Traore this week after he arrived in Sheffield following a visa delay. The striker signed for the Blades more than two weeks ago and briefly met Heckingbottom and his teammates for the first time in person after flying out to their pre-season camp in Portugal, before returning to Sweden to prepare for the move to England.

Heckingbottom told the media after Saturday’s friendly at Derby County that he hoped Traore would be on a plane that weekend, which did not transpire. Speaking to Radio Sheffield on Tuesday evening Heckingbottom believed Traore would be arriving that night, with a view to him joining in with training on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s final pre-season game against Stuttgart. Traore has now arrived in Sheffield and will be looking forward to getting down to business with his new club as soon as possible.

Ndiaye’s Marseille move leaves United wondering what could have been

The delay was not initially too much of a concern, given Traore had played 14 games for his former club Hacken after their Allsvenskan season began on April 3. But his last game for the reigning Swedish champions was on July 2 and although he has been prescribed some fitness work by United’s performance guru Tom Little, the delay may mean that the 20-year-old is a little behind schedule ahead of United’s Premier League opener against Crystal Palace on August 12.

“It’s a shame, Heckingbottom said, “because when we met him in Portugal and he came and met everyone, he made a good impression and had been playing a lot of football to the beginning of July. But it’s dragged on so he’s not played for a month. We’ve been giving him work to do while he’s out there, but it’s not the same as training or playing football and that’s the bit he’s missed out on. He’s not as close as we’d have liked but if you look back, he’s been playing regularly and training every day. So it shouldn’t take him too long to get physically up to speed.”

United teammates pay tributes to ‘special’ Ndiaye as he confirms exit

Traore was identified as a target for the Blades, as well as Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers, after scoring 12 goals in those 14 early-season games for Hacken. A converted winger, Traore is seen as far from the finished article by United’s coaching staff - who were nonetheless convinced that they had to strike now or risk losing out on his capture should his red-hot form in front of goal continue for Hacken.

“He has pace, he likes to play on the shoulder, the last man, but he’s also comfortable playing wide,” Heckingbottom said of Traore, “because that’s where he came through, as a wide player. We see him either as one of our front two, or if we play with a front three, one of the 10s or the nine. So we can play him anywhere across the front.

“He’s shown a real appetite to press and set the press high, and he’s been really effective with that, which we like. And some of his goals have been really good in terms of his instinct and movement and willingness to attack the ball in the box. He’s a 20-year-old lad, we hope we’ve got him before anyone else, he’s just burst onto the scene if you like.

“He had an injury, came back and started playing as a nine. His goal record’s fantastic and it’s one of those ... if he continued having a good season or went into next season at the same level, we probably wouldn’t have been able to get hold of him. So we’ve struck early.”