Sheffield United: Oliver Arblaster "offers" considered before block put on move

Speaking as his team entered the World Cup break ranked second in the Championship table, United manager Paul Heckingbottom revealed that coaching staff considered all of the offers they received but ultimately concluded it would be dangerous to accept in the midst of an injury crisis.

The wisdom of that decision was proved when Arblaster made his full league debut during last weekend’s win over Cardiff City - a result which saw United briefly replace Burnley at the summit of the division before Vincent Kompany’s men wrestled back pole position by beating Blackburn Rovers.

“A lot of those who have gone out might have been playing,” Heckingbottom said, admitting that, with the benefit of hindsight, some of Arblaster’s contemporaries might not have been handed placements in either the EFL or National League. “Harry Boyes, Harrison Neal and others; with everything that’s happened they might have been involved as well.

“With Oliver, we wanted him around it and had a couple of things lined-up for him recently. But, looking at everything, seeing the way it’s been, we just couldn’t let him go out. We can’t. Even if it’s a youth loan that would have meant he’d miss our game with Huddersfield Town.”

United are scheduled to return to action on December 10th, when Mark Fotheringham’s side make the short journey to South Yorkshire. After being handed some time off to recharge both physically and mentally - “I want them to spend some time away from football, with their families and friends” - Heckingbottom plans to recall his squad back to the Randox Health Academy to begin preparations for the Christmas and New Year period.

United travelled to the Welsh capital without a dozen senior professionals through a combination of injury and illness, including Arblaster’s fellow midfielders Sander Berge, John Fleck, Tommy Doyle and Ismaila Coulibaly. Although all of those could be declared available for selection against Town, Arblaster’s presence allowed Heckingbottom to make an important tactical adjustment ahead of the meeting with City.

Despite replacing the England under-18 international with James McAtee during the half-time interval, a switch which proved to be the turning point of the game, the former Barnsley, Leeds and Hibernian chief explained: “We wanted to change it with three midfielder, because of things that we’d seen (in the pre-match analysis). ‘Blaster isn’t the biggest but he can get behind the ball, he can run and get into those advanced areas well. He can drop on the ball in seconds and fill spaces. That’s something we wanted to do going in, albeit we could quickly see that we could do that with Macca too at the top end of the pitch.”

Having worked closely with Arblaster in his previous guise as United’s development coach, Heckingbottom has made no secret of the fact he believes the youngster, aged 18, has a bright future ahead of him. After completing a spell with Bradford Park Avenue, Arblaster made the first of his five appearances for United this term during August’s Carabao Cup tie at West Bromwich Albion before featuring against Hull City, Stoke City and Burnley.

However, in line with his assertion at the beginning of the campaign that academy graduates will be afforded no special favours after breaking into his starting eleven, Heckingbottom reminded Arblaster still has “lots to learn” although his critique was softened by praise of the player’s attitude, ability and character.

“He’s good, we know he is,” Heckingbottom said, referring to Arblaster. “He’s still got loads to learn, though. Lots to learn. When you talk about people like ‘Blaster, you talk about potential. Potential means they’re not good enough to start on a regular basis, and that’s understandable because they’re learning. The thing is, he wants to learn. He works hard. He handles the ball well and he trains well.”

By referring to “youth loans” and the fact some of those proposals were submitted “recently”, it appears Heckingbottom, continuing a policy championed by his predecessor Chris Wilder, was willing to send Arblaster into non-league in order to further his education. George Broadbent, Zak Brunt and Marcus Dewhurst are all currently working with National League outfits - Boreham Wood and, in the latter’s case, Scunthorpe. Boyes and Neal are operating on the third and fourth tiers of the English pyramid, at Forest Green Rovers and Barrow. Will Osula, United’s exciting Danish striker, is making progress with Derby County while Femi Seriki (Rochdale) and Jake Eastwood (Ross County) have also been loaned out.

United are likely to revisit Arblaster’s situation again in January, if Berge, Doyle and Fleck all recover from knocks and then prove their fitness. Given Heckingbottom’s selection issues on the left hand side of defence, Boyes - “A left back,” he reminded - could well have been considered for duty in recent weeks, although Enda Stevens’ return to action has eased some of the pressure on that flank. Max Lowe, another option, is understood to be making progress in his battle to recover from a hamstring complaint.

“You look at all sorts of things,” said Heckingbottom, who named Sai Sachdev, Jordan Amissah and Andre Brooks on United’s bench on Saturday afternoon. “It’s important to remember that players coming through can learn a lot from working with the established players here as well, training with them every day and seeing the standards that they set. Every situation is an opportunity to learn.”