Boss reveals Sheffield United’s Benie Traore plan after striker hits big milestone after summer move

Paul Heckingbottom has admitted that Sheffield United’s coaching staff are working hard to get more from summer signing Benie Traore, after admitting the Ivory Coast’s start to life at Bramall Lane has not been “plain sailing”. Traore moved from Swedish side Hacken in the summer but has yet to get off the mark for the Blades’ first-team.

He scored a morale-boosting brace for the U21s in midweek, and was denied a hat-trick after an acrobatic strike in front of the Kop was ruled out by an offside flag. After starting the first three games of the season, before United’s striker reinforcements were boosted by the returns of Oli McBurnie and Rhian Brewster and the arrival of Cameron Archer, Traore has been restricted to cameo appearances off the bench ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Craven Cottage to face Fulham.

“You always want strikers to score goals,” boss Heckingbottom said of Traore’s U21s run out. “The important thing was to get him minutes, we’ve had lots of other players do that if they weren’t starting for the first team but Benie’s started a lot of games and didn’t need them to start with. He missed out on the last couple so it’s important he got 90 minutes under his belt and to get the two goals. He got a third one, he says it was onside, as well. It would have been nice for him to get a hat-trick.”

Earning his move to Bramall Lane on the back of electric early-season form in the Swedish top-flight, Traore has had to acclimatise quickly to life in a different country as well as plying his trade in the most difficult league in world football, at just 20 years of age. “We have had conversations with him about his standards and where he needs to be better. I want it to be really clear,” Heckingbottom added.

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“Like most players, it’s not plain sailing, especially when you are young. For lots of different reasons you have fluctuations in form, things happening in your life. We have to be consistent in how we approach it with the players and the standards they set. We want more from him, of course we do, but we know we are going to have to support him through that.

“He’s had moments where he has shown really good qualities and you can all see his athleticism and his pace. He’s been really good when he has had a lot of space to play in. Now we are trying to get the other side of his game as well; if it is tight and we still need a goal, playing against a team sitting in because they are leading, where he can add to that as well.”