Sheffield United: Tommy Doyle injury timescale clarified with Man City loanee ‘champing at bit’ to return

The youngster had established himself in the Blades midfield before suffering a calf injury against West Brom at the back end of October. He subsequently missed the games against Bristol City, Burnley, Rotherham and Cardiff City before the World Cup break and after four weeks away, was also absent from the teamsheet against Huddersfield Town at the weekend.

After journalists were briefed that Doyle was missing at Ashton Gate as a precautionary measure, fears about the youngster’s availability were rising – but have now been allayed by United chief Paul Heckingbottom, who admitted Doyle and fellow injured youngster Daniel Jebbison are “champing at the bit” to be back involved.

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“Tommy trained this week, so it’s just fitness for me,” Heckingbottom added. “He’s medically fit, he’s moving really well and looking good in training. But he’s only had a couple of days with us and we want to get him back to the levels of fitness he was at before.

“Then it’ll be good for those boys. We had Ozzy [Ben Osborn], Ollie Norwood and Macca [James McAtee] start [against Huddersfield] and Sander [Berge] on the bench.

“That’s good. We want to be able to change the team in the game, and before the game. And we want that competition too. We’ll use it. We’ve shown we’re going to need everyone. Everyone has contributed so far and I’d expect everyone to do the same again.”

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Heckingbottom’s words may be interpreted as an indication that Doyle may be in contention to feature against Wigan Athletic in United’s next outing, next Monday evening. The nine-day break between the Huddersfield victory and that game, which has been selected for Sky television coverage, will give Doyle extra time to prove his fitness and will also help the recovery of Berge, who came off the bench against Town after his own long injury absence with a knee issue.

United also welcomed back Jayden Bogle and Max Lowe to the bench, while Ciaran Clark played 90 minutes in defence in the absence of Jack Robinson.

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