The brilliant secret to Iliman Ndiaye’s success as Sheffield United pal reveals 'issue' he causes

The pair’s goals have underpinned United’s excellent season so far, with McBurnie netting 13 times in all competitions and Ndiaye adding 12 to help the Blades to second in the Championship table and the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

With nine games left in the league, and potentially two in the FA Cup if Paul Heckingbottom’s men can shock the mighty Manchester City in next month’s Wembley semi-final, it could still be a remarkable campaign in this club’s long and illustrious history – with Ndiaye right up there amongst the candidates to be player of the season.

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Effectively 18 months into his senior football career, Ndiaye has established himself as one of the Championship’s most coveted players and appeared for Senegal at the 2022 World Cup, in the same winter United rejected a £25m plus add-ons bid from Everton for his services.

Whether United reach the Premier League or not this season, there is a growing feeling that Ndiaye is destined for the top and McBurnie waxed lyrical about the 23-year-old star on the latest episode of the BBC’s Blades Heaven podcast.

“Ili can be whatever he wants to be,” the Scottish international said ahead of this weekend’s trip to Norwich City. “I say that genuinely.

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“I think he’s got nine or 10 sisters and they were all good runners. He said his dad used to give him a ball and all his sisters would try and tackle him.

“He’d just dribble off, and that’s all they’d do all day. It makes so much sense now because no-one can tackle him! When he told me it made a lot of sense.”

After appearing together on a handful of occasions last season, McBurnie and Ndiaye have struck up a formidable partnership this campaign – which could prove key to their hopes of evading the charge of Middlesbrough and holding on to second spot.

“Sometimes in football you’ll just be on the same wavelength as other players and complement them well,” McBurnie added. “It’s easy for me; I give it him and he dribbles past everyone.

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“But in terms of a partnership, the way we’ve gelled, it does feel like we know where each other are going to be and it’s a pleasure to play with him. Sometimes I think we are guilty of giving him the ball and kind of leaving him on his own and not giving him any support, because we expect him to take everyone on.

“Sometimes it is the right decision to leave him if he’s one-v-one or whatever but other times, we just think: ‘It’s Ili, he’ll get out of it! And that’s our fault, because we know how good he is and how good he can be. So nine times out of 10 he probably does get out of it.

“If you watch the game, most times there’s only one player you’re going to be drawn to. The players who can do the things he can do.”

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