Spotlight on “bright” Sheffield United starlet as he issues timely reminder of talent

At the start of the season, after recovering from the disappointment of missing Sheffield United’s title-winning campaign after being forced to go under the knife, Louie Marsh set himself a target of scoring 20 goals for the Blades’ U21s.

And when it arrived, in the first half of United’s 7-1 rout of Colchester United earlier this week, the 20th was a fitting goal to reach any milestone. After cutting inside his man before dispatching a superb curling effort to wow the watching crowd at Bramall Lane, Marsh could have gone into the break with four goals to his name but had to instead settle for a first-half hat-trick.

It could be a timely reminder - not that one is really needed - of his qualities, considering the Blades’ first-team are already promoted to the Premier League. Boss Paul Heckingbottom, the Blades’ former U21s boss, is keen to ensure his side respect the integrity of the rest of the league, especially with tomorrow’s opponents Huddersfield Town scrapping for their lives and keen to ensure survival at Reading’s expense.

But at the same time he must also be severely tempted to blood a few of the club’s young stars, who have just sealed a third successive league title and booked their place in the end-of-season play-offs in a bid to become national champions.

Teenage striker Will Osula also impressed against Colchester with a strong side also featuring the likes of Andre Brooks and Oliver Arblaster, who have already experienced first-team football already this season. The closest Marsh has come is a couple of appearances on the bench, with Heckingbottom giving the lowdown on the Sheffield-born star earlier this season.

“Marshy’s a really bright footballer,” Heckingbottom told The Star. “He handles the ball really well and has a real good brain on the pitch. They’re his stand-out attributes, I think. He’s got good quality at the top end of the pitch and looks after the ball.

“Physically he’s developing and coming into his own a little bit, he’s still got a way to go, but he’s been taking information on board in terms of his role for the team and working with Micky [Collins, U23s boss].. He’s getting more and more confident, more part of the club. Getting where his place is and where he fits in. His performances in the U21s have been really consistent as well and he’s doing well.”

The challenge for United’s young stars, to get into the first-team squad and then stay there, has only become more difficult with promotion to the Premier League. Marsh has trained with United’s senior players this season, in what Heckingbottom agreed was an “unforgiving” environment.

“But that’s what we want,” he added. “There should be a big gap. If I was with the U21s, my job would be to make the step up from the U18s as big as possible and as little as possible going up to the first-team.

“How do you do that? Whether it’s how fit you make them or the mentality, how hard they’re going to work. Likewise if you’re with the 18s you want to bridge the gap to the 21s and just keep pushing and pushing. My job now is to make the gap as big as possible between the first team and 21s, but I have more responsibility to help manage that hap because we want to get the players through.

“So I’m working with Del [Geary, academy chief] and Micky to make sure they understand what it takes to get there, while challenging the young boys when they come up and making it really clear what it takes to get a debut or stay in the team. It’s not about making the gap too big to ever get there, but it’s about making sure they feel the difference and they know what it’s about and how they can help us do that. We’ve got to help them to get to that level.”

“Marshy trained with us in fits and starts earlier this season but when he was with us - and this is from when I had him with us a couple of times last year as well - the standard on the ball won’t drop if you’ve got Marshy in and around it. And if you do that, your peers will generally be having you.”