Sheffield United Transfers: Boss's January warning to Blades' rivals after Blackburn linked with Oli Burke

Blackburn Rovers have become the first of United’s potential promotion rivals to cast admiring glances towards a member of the Bramall Lane squad, after resurrecting their interest in forward Oliver Burke.

Burke was a target for Rovers late in the last transfer window but remained at United, but has not played in the league since mid-August’s 4-0 defeat at his old club West Bromwich Albion.

He was on the bench for the Blades’ last outing, victory away at Fulham, and may have made an appearance over the Christmas period – had the Blades not had all their three games postponed because of Covid-19 cases in their opponents’ squads.

“The players have responded really well in training,” Heckingbottom told The Star.

“The standards have been good, and if the games would have been on we'd have probably used those players. That's how good everyone was training.

“It's not happened but it means we're going to have those situations further down the line this season, so we can't leave ourselves short.

“We need to make sure that the players still know and understand that there's going to be a chance for them to step up and perform. And if they do that, they’ll stay in the team.

“We're going to need everyone. There may still be players that leave because we do have a lot in attacking positions. We want our players to get minutes as much as they want to get minutes. But we won't leave ourselves short.

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“It'll be about making sure we have a good enough squad to keep winning games and keep competing against the top teams in this division.”

United have six senior strikers on their books but Burke, Oli McBurnie and Lys Mousset have started nine times between them in the league this season so far.

With six league goals and as many assists in 15 starts, skipper Billy Sharp is justifiably first-choice while the form of Iliman Ndiaye and Morgan Gibbs-White has further limited the chances of some of their teammates.

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