Sheffield United face further Benie Traore delay as fans wait for first glimpse of new boy

The forward, who earned his move to United on the back of 14 goals in 16 appearances in the early stages of the Swedish season for Hacken, was officially unveiled as a Blades player just over a week ago, during their pre-season trip to Portugal. Despite Traore flying out to Lisbon to meet Heckingbottom and his new teammates, hopes of him making his debut in the friendly against Estoril were dashed by visa delays and Traore subsequently returned to Sweden to finalise his move to England.

It was initially hoped that Traore would make his Blades debut this week, either in last night’s friendly at Rotherham United or this afternoon’s behind-closed-doors clash against Girona in Manchester. But at the time of writing Traore’s visa had still not been cleared, meaning further delays for both player and club ahead of the start of the new Premier League campaign midway through next month.

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“We’re still waiting for Benie’s visa,” assistant manager Stuart McCall confirmed after the Rotherham game. “That’s just a little sticking point, we’re waiting for his clearance to come through. He came out to Portugal and met his teammates and we’re excited to work with Benie.

“He’ll give us something a little bit different, he’s very sharp in and around and he can run behind. But we’ve just got to wait for his visa and he’ll be over here. Hopefully we can get Benie’s clearance sorted and get some minutes under his belt before the season starts.”

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Many United fans will get their first glimpse of Anis Slimane in a United shirt against Girona, after the Tunisian international made an encouraging debut against Estoril in Portugal last week. The likes of Sander Berge, John Egan and Anel Ahmedhodzic are also expected to feature against the La Liga side, after missing the defeat at the New York Stadium last night.

United will step up the minutes in their players’ legs again this weekend at Derby County, with a number of first-team stars earmarked to play their first 90 minutes of pre-season ahead of the big kick-off against Crystal Palace on August 12 at Bramall Lane.