Sheffield United: Two things which have left academy graduate on the brink of World Cup glory
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That is the verdict of Paul Heckingbottom, who first began charting the Wales international’s progress long before joining Bramall Lane’s coaching staff.
Norrington-Davies is expected to make his 24th senior appearance for United at the bet365 Stadium, where he spent the second half of last season on loan.
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Hide AdAged 22, the defender was also placed with AFC Barrow, Rochdale and Luton Town before heading to Staffordshire.
Heckingbottom, who began his managerial career at Barnsley ahead of spells in charge of Leeds and Hibernian, told The Star: “To begin with, when Rhys went to Barrow, he wasn’t anywhere near our first team. He did well there and then took another step up, this time going to Rochdale.
“I was already watching him, even though I wasn’t here at the time. He was progressing on that pathway.
“Every move Rhys has had, it’s been a step up and it’s presented him with different challenges to overcome and taught him different things. But, the thing is, in order to keep making that progress he has had to keep performing for every club he’s been at. He’s had to do that to make sure people at the next level have wanted him.
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Hide Ad“Now Rhys is back here and performing for us, which is great.”
Initially hired to oversee United’s under-23’s squad, Heckingbottom was handed overall responsibility for the Championship club’s footballing operations when Slavisa Jokanovic was sacked in November.
The 44-year-old’s side travel to City ranked fifth in the table with eight games of the season remaining. Norrington-Davies was capped for the seventh time by his country during the international break, which saw Robert Page’s squad move to within 90 minutes of qualifying for the World Cup.
“It’s great to see Rhys doing what he’s doing,” Heckingbottom said, noting Enda Stevens’ return from injury means he is now under even greater pressure to perform. “He’s been handled well.
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Hide Ad“But what’s even better to see is the fact he wants to keep improving and he wants to keep on getting better, which he definitely can. There's thing we want to work on with him, and things he wants to work on himself.”