Sheffield United: No preferential treatment for Manchester City loan stars after boss's James McAtee comments

The Sheffield United loanee was handed only his second league start for the Blades in front of the Sky cameras, but struggled to affect the game in the first half and didn’t reappear for the second after being replaced by his City teammate, Tommy Doyle.

McAtee earned a reputation as one of the country’s highest-rated young players at City last season, but is enjoying his first real taste of senior football at Bramall Lane.

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And despite Blades chief Paul Heckingbottom admitting McAtee will feel “shocking” after being taken off at half-time at Luton, he insists that loan players – no matter their potential or where they come from – will not get preferential treatment whilst they are under his charge.

“James won’t have experienced anything like that before, the speed and the intensity of it,” Heckingbottom told The Star after his side’s 1-1 draw with Luton.

“Totally different. We can’t treat him and the loanees any different in terms of the standards we expect on the pitch, so that’s why he was subbed.

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“But we can help them through these moments and it’s part of his education and why he came to us.

“Look at Tommy; he’s had a bit more exposure abroad and at Cardiff and it’s a totally different game [to academy football]. And it’ll blow James’ mind for a bit until he gets his head around it.

“It’s why he came here. Big teams in the Premier League wanted him.

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“We know he’ll get game time here because we aren’t going to carry a massive squad. But he liked the fact we spoke about how much he’ll have to learn and improve off the ball with his intensity and that’s why he wanted to come here. To learn and get better.”

“We were honest as we could be with him and if he went elsewhere we knew he wasn’t for us,” Heckingbottom added.

“He’ll feel shocking now. Shocking. But it’ll be a game he remembers and if we ever watch him at the top level, he’ll remember this game.”

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