Sheffield United: David McGoldrick's brilliant admission as he updates fans on injury progress

“It’s made me realise how old I am,” the veteran striker smiled when asked about his rehabilitation role alongside fellow injured stars Brewster, 22, and Bogle, 21.

“Those two are little firecrackers. Dumb and Dumber at times. But they’re good guys and they’re working hard. They have the right mentality and they feel they can’t take their foot off the gas because I’ll be on them.

“Rhian said I’m like a father figure recently but that’s because I like them and think they’re great players, and they’ll come back stronger when they get fit.

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“We’ve had Bash [Chris Basham in [for treatment recently] as well, Jack O’Connell in there and we’ve had the skip [Billy Sharp] in as well. It’s been a crowded physio room.”

Another striker in Oli McBurnie has joined them of late after damaging bone and ligaments in his foot, leaving United’s play-off hopes effectively resting on the return of 36-year-old club legend Sharp ahead of this weekend’s clash with Cardiff City.

McGoldrick’s season was prematurely ended when he damaged a thigh against West Brom back in February and was forced to go under the knife, although he revealed the “light at the end of the tunnel isn’t far away” in an interview with United’s in-house media channel.

“I’ve been in the gym for a bit now,” McGoldrick said. “It’s been eight weeks now since the operation and I’m seeing a specialist very soon to see how I’m getting on and if I can ramp it up even more.

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“I was on crutches for three weeks and you can’t do anything. You have to watch everything you put in your body; you can’t drive. Once you get in the gym that’s the first step, but then obviously the big step is getting on the grass and you can see light at the end of the tunnel. Which isn’t far away.

“I’ve been injured before, a lot in my days at Ipswich, and I think you’ve got to go straight into a mentality of committing to it and accepting it straightaway.

“You have to make every day count and you can’t just go through the motions, whatever it is.

“If you take off five per cent every day that’s going to add up over time and that might not be good for me. I go in with a mentality of coming out stronger every day and I think that’s the best thing to do.”

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United go into the Cardiff game sixth in the Championship table, but only a point and a place ahead of Millwall after losing to Reading and only drawing at Bristol City over the Easter weekend.

An away-day at fellow play-off hopefuls QPR could prove pivotal, before United round off their regular season with a home game against already-promoted and champions-elect Fulham on May 7.

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