Sheffield United: What Filip Uremovic's arrival tells us about Paul Heckingbottom's squad

But the most significant and revealing, following Paul Heckingbottom’s admission that neither he nor his coaching staff have always been entirely open about the prognoses for some of Bramall Lane’s injured players, wasn’t the fact Uremovic once interested Celtic or is a fan of the Sopranos.

Instead, with Charlie Goode returning to Brentford after seeing a cartilage complaint interrupt his loan move to Bramall Lane, the fact the 25-year-old is not only a centre-half but a right-footed one at that is likely to be of most interest to those attempting to cut through the fog surrounding United’s walking wounded. Intriguingly, however, one eastern European football expert who contacted The Star last night suggested Uremovic would be better suited to operating in the middle of a three man rearguard; a position currently filled by John Egan. So perhaps, in a roundabout sort of way, that could be a positive sign on the fitness front.

Speaking towards the end of last week, after Heckingbottom had confirmed Goode had been recalled to west London to undergo treatment, head of player development Jack Lester told journalists he was “hopeful” the former Northampton Town defender’s campaign is not over.

Uremovic’s arrival, after receiving permission to suspend his contract with Leonid Slutsky’s side following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, suggests that even if it isn’t, Goode is unlikely to be ready until the middle of next month.

After being relegated from the Premier League last season and following the Covid-19 pandemic, United are attempting to reorganise their finances ahead of the new campaign. The club, which is fifth in the Championship following last weekend’s win over Barnsley, is already known to have borrowed against its parachute payments and also Aaron Ramsdale’s transfer fee following his move to Arsenal in August.

That probably explains why, despite thrusting themselves into top six contention and knowing his squad faced a gruelling run of fixtures during February and March, United only granted Heckingbottom permission to recruit two players during the winter window. One of those, goalkeeper Adam Davies, arrived on a free following Robin Olsen’s departure. The other was Goode, after Heckingbottom’s bid to capture John Souttar from Heart of Midlothian collapsed. Sources in Scotland later claimed Souttar, who went on to agree a pre-contract with Rangers, was offered terms broadly in line with those he is receiving at Tynecastle.

Goode’s arrival was designed to shore-up a rearguard which has borne the brunt of the fitness issues threatening to undermine United’s push for play-off qualification. But after being sent-off on his full-debut, he is now back in the capital after completing only 86 minutes of football during nearly two months with United.

Goode, of course, was hired to provide cover for another right-footer - Chris Basham. He is also confined to the treatment room at present, after being diagnosed with damage to a medial knee ligament. Before Heckingbottom confessed to orchestrating a disinformation campaign - “I think people can understand why, because we don’t want to give our rivals any advantage” - United’s in-house media team attempted to rubbish reports Basham faced a lengthy spell on the sidelines; publishing, no doubt at the behest of their employers, ‘actual words’ from the manager suggesting otherwise on their social media channels.

Basham may well return before May. But the fact he has now missed all of United’s last seven games betrays the fact his condition is more serious than was being acknowledged at the time.

Uremovic is unlikely to have been offered the chance to join United if Goode, Basham or both were set to reach peak condition soon.

But he is someone well known to their recruitments gurus Paul Mitchell and Jared Dublin, after Heckingbottom revealed he has been on the duo’s radar for a considerable period of time: “They’ve watched him since he played for Croatia under-21’s. But financially, he’s always been out of the club’s reach.”

The last of Uremovic’s appearances for Igor Biscan’s side came in 2019, when the Mladi Valtreni drew with an England team containing Tammy Abraham, Phil Foden and his new United colleague Morgan Gibbs-White at the European Championships. Heckingbottom’s employers have spent two seasons at the highest level of football since then, returning to the second tier 11 months ago.

Valued at around £6m before recent events in eastern Europe, Oremovic’s CV also includes six senior caps and spells with HNK Cibalia, based in the town of Vinkovci, eastern Croatia, and Dinamo Zagreb where he competed at development level.

Having made 20 appearances for Leonid Slutsky’s men this term, before Vladimir Putin ordered his armed forces across the Ukranian border, Uremovic is expected to be available to make his United debut at Stoke City next weekend.

After returning to his homeland earlier this month, Uremovic travelled to England seven days ago and has spent the past five days working with the rest of Heckingbottom’s squad at United’s training complex in Shirecliffe. He has been joined there by Ismaila Coulibaly, the Malian youngster United acquired from Sarpsborg in 2020. However Coulibaly, who has spent the past two years on loan at their sister club Beerschot, is scheduled to return to Belgium next week.

Although Uremovic is only scheduled to remain in South Yorkshire until the summer - when, as things stand, he must rejoin Kazan - players’ union FIFPRO is campaigning for overseas footballers based in Russia to be able to declare their contracts null and void should they so wish.

If they are successful, this could pave the way for United to retain his services beyond June.

“Thankfully,” said Heckingbottom, “He sees this as a great place to come and play in the short term.”

MORE: https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/football/sheffield-united/sheffield-united-the-ex-blade-who-has-fallen-in-love-with-the-city-he-still-calls-home-3625178