Sheffield United injury round-up as Oli McBurnie, Daniel Jebbison, Jayden Bogle progress

Sheffield United are still battling with a number of injury issues ahead of the new Premier League season, with boss Paul Heckingbottom vowing not to take any risks with any of his players for this weekend’s friendly against Stuttgart at Bramall Lane. With less than two weeks until the opening game against Crystal Palace, likes of Oli McBurnie, Ollie Norwood and Daniel Jebbison have missed various amounts of pre-season while Jayden Bogle and Rhian Brewster have not featured at all.

Injury issues for John Fleck and Ismaila Coulibaly have provided a further headache for boss Heckingbottom in the middle of midfield, with the Scottish international taking a whack on the leg he fractured last season during the recent friendly against Girona, but Norwood could feature against the German side this weekend if his head injury - which he sustained in a collision with teammate Harrison Neal at Rotherham, and left him needing 10 stitches - heals sufficiently in time.

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“We are not going to take any risks with anyone [for Saturday], so we will wait and see,” Heckingbottom said. “We’ll possibly have Jebbo back. We’ll see how he reacts. With Jebbo it's his groin, he's been feeling his groin. Flecky won't be fit. We will be having a look at him.”

Bogle’s issue is related to the surgery he had on his knee early last year. “It’s good news,” Heckingbottom said when asked about the wing-back and teammate Coulibaly, also suffering a knee complaint. “Jayden’s knee had swollen up and at the bottom of it, he has had a little bit of a screw removed. So hopefully we’ll get the swelling down and he'll be back going again with us in a few weeks. Izzy is the same; his swelling is coming down and he's had treatment on it.”

With Jebbison and Brewster sidelined, Benie Traore still waiting to make his United debut after a visa delay and Iliman Ndiaye on his way to Marseille, there is even more expectation on the shoulders of McBurnie - last season’s joint-top scorer alongside the Senegal international - ahead of the new campaign.

“His scan showed swelling and bruising around an old fracture,” Heckingbottom revealed. “Luckily it's not fractured. It’s probably as good as we could have hoped with them.”