What Sheffield United boss said about futures of Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge amid transfer talk

United have fielded interest in their star man all summer, with Club Brugge amongst the clubs most aggressively pursuing the Norwegian international ahead of next Thursday’s 11pm deadline.

Berge has started the season well despite the transfer speculation, and Heckingbottom said ahead of Friday night’s trip to Luton Town that the situation had not changed.

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“Early on there was a lot of noise and bids but then it's gone quiet,” Heckingbottom said.

“Which is great for me personally. Sander's in the thick of it but he's been performing and training well. He's a good lad, he's driven and he knows the situation.

“Everything's been done properly so there's no surprises, nothing's jumping out the woodwork and hopefully nothing does.”

Another man who has enjoyed a superb start to the season is Iliman Ndiaye, the youngster scoring twice on Saturday as United beat Blackburn Rovers 3-0 to move top of the Championship table.

The Senegal international is another player whose future may come under scrutiny soon if he continues to impress, and Heckingbottom when quizzed on his future: “Everyone's got a price, we know that. Everyone.

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“But I keep saying, Steve [Bettis, chief executive] sat here and said we don't have to sell anyone. And credit to them, we haven't. We want to keep the players we have and see what we can do this season.”

“We've had a decent start; those two in particular [Berge and Ndiaye] have contributed but a few more have stepped up,” Heckingbottom added.

“We'll need them. We won't do anything with 11 players, we need the whole squad. We have 22, 23 good players that are going to be needed.”

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