Sheffield United: Manager on Reda Khadra's future, as Brighton man is absent at Blackpool

After struggling to command a regular place in United’s starting eleven, Heckingbottom conceded it was “inevitable” that the German under-21 international’s absence would prompt speculation that his season-long agreement is poised to be cut short.

But after watching goals from Sander Berge and James McAtee strengthen United’s grip on an automatic promotion place, Heckingbottom insisted his primary objective during next month’s transfer window is to keep a group which has now won eight of its last nine outings “together”; particularly given that takeover talks between owner Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and an investor hoping to purchase the club are likely to limit his activity in the market.

“Why, if I can’t bring anyone in, would it make any sense for me to let someone go,” Heckingbottom told The Star, before revealing Khadra has played the requisite number of games which means United rather than Albion will decide where his immediate future lies. “It would be foolish me saying players are going, so wait and see. I want to keep everyone together. I want this group to remain intact. Our chats, they’ll stay between us. But he’s our player.”

Despite that admission, Heckingbottom stopped short of explicitly stating that Khadra will remain in South Yorkshire although he did suggest the 21-year-old could feature when United return to action on Monday, when they visit Queens Park Rangers.

“I’ve spoken with Reda, of course,” Heckingbottom added. “I just thought that this was the best squad for what we knew we were going to face here. He could be back in down there. You’ll just have to wait and see. But, like I say, I thought that was the best squad we had for this particular game.”

United began preparing for the trip to west London in second place and 11 points clear of third-placed Blackburn Rovers after completing their schedule for 2022 in dominant form. After Berge had opened the scoring and McAtee doubled United’s lead, Marvin Ekpiteta’s finish from close-range threatened to haul Michael Appleton’s side back into the contest. But United, as Heckingbottom explained, demonstrated “another aspect” to their character during the closing stages in order to keep Blackpool at bay.

“We did both of the things you have to do,” he said. “And that was good to see, because we knew they would make it difficult for us at times. I thought we defended well and showed quality on the ball when we had to.

“We played when we had to and defended when we needed to.”

Oli McBurnie and Ben Osborn were also among those to miss the match in Lancashire although Heckingbottom is hopeful either one or both could be available for the meeting with Rangers. However, John Fleck has yet to recover from the injury he sustained after taking a blow to the leg he fractured earlier this term.

“We’re not looking ahead,” Heckingbottom said. “We just want to maintain what we’re doing and try to get even better.”