Sheffield United: Scotland midfielder could be the next to return as Ireland duo make progress
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United could be without 10 senior members of their first team squad because of injury and suspension when they face Coventry City at the CBS Arena tomorrow, while striker Oli McBurnie is continuing to volunteer for duty despite being booked-in for hernia surgery later this year.
Speaking ahead of the meeting with Mark Robins’ men, which Heckingbottom hopes will produce United’s first win since the international break, it emerged Fleck has taken a significant step forward in his battle to overcome a broken leg.
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Hide Ad“The next one back might be Flecky, if you’re trying to put a timescale on things,” said Heckingbotton, who also confirmed Ciaran Clark and Enda Stevens are also on the road towards recovery. “He (Flecky) has trained all week which is great for us and for him. Enda and Ciaran are back out on the grass and they’re coming to a point when we can consider dropping them back into the (training) picture. But because of their circumstances, we’ll look at bringing them in a little bit slower. We’ll be more patient with them if you like.”
Although Anel Ahmedhodzic, Jack Robinson and Ben Osborn have all recently returned to action, providing Heckingbottom with some much-needed flexibility, the loss of colleagues including Sander Berge, Max Lowe, Jayden Bogle and Daniel Jebbison has left United woefully short of options in recent weeks. Inevitably, results have suffered with last weekend’s 3-3 draw with Blackpool seeing United surrender their position at the top of the Championship table. They entered that fixture on the back of another draw, this time against Birmingham City, and defeats to Queens Park Rangers and Stoke City.
Clark, signed on loan from Newcastle, has not featured since August’s EFL Cup tie at West Bromwich Albion while Stevens last appeared on the team sheet when United faced Watford during this term’s opening round of games.
Both Clark and Stevens and Republic of Ireland internationals, while Fleck has been capped by Scotland.
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Hide AdExplaining why United are “taking their time” with Clark and Stevens, Heckingbottom said: “There’s a lot more volume going into them before they come back into full training, because of the nature of the injuries they’ve had. We want to get more into them before they take that step than we would with others, and also because they’ve been out for a while. That way, it lessens the chance of a recurrence.”
Ismaila Coulibaly is another player unavailable for selection after undergoing an operation to cure a knee complaint.
“His knee is still big and he’s working in the gym,” Heckingbottom continued. “It’s going to be a long time yet before we consider him, and he’s ready when he’s ready. He’s not doing anything physical yet, he’s got a long way to go. Without being funny, I’m not even thinking about him like that at the moment because he’ll be ready when he’s ready.”