Sheffield United's World Cup star thanks former striker for his no-holds-barred advice

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Jebbison has travelled to the FIFA under-20 World Cup with the Young Lions, appearing as a second-half substitute during Monday’s win over Tunisia in the opening round of group games. Ian Foster’s squad’s returns to action when they face Uruguay in a potentially pivotal encounter at La Plata’s Diego Armando Maradona Stadium and, after facing the north Africans, Jebbison hopes to put the advice Lester regularly imparts at United’s training complex to good effect. The 47-year-old is one of Paul Heckingbottom’s two assistants.

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“Jack does a lot of work with us lads, he’s always on at us and, for me, the good thing is that he’s always really honest,” Jebbison told The Star. “He doesn’t dress anything up. He tells you like it is and that’s what you want because it’s how you improve. Jack will tell you what you’re doing well, what you’re doing wrong and, when it comes down to those things, how you can try and get better at them.”

With Foster travelling to Argentina with a depleted squad at his disposal, Jebbison is guaranteed to be a prominent figure in England’s attempts to regain a trophy they last lifted six years ago. The teenager replaced Dane Scarlett during the closing stages of the meeting with Tunisia, after the Tottenham Hotspur centre-forward had scored what proved to be the only goal of the contest. Uruguay began their campaign with a 4-0 thrashing of Iraq, who face England on Sunday.

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