Ollie Norwood issues honest message on 19-year-old’s potential at Sheffield United | OneFootball

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Football League World

·27 September 2022

Ollie Norwood issues honest message on 19-year-old’s potential at Sheffield United

Article image:Ollie Norwood issues honest message on 19-year-old’s potential at Sheffield United

Sheffield United have made a great start to the Championship season and look well placed to compete with the newly relegated clubs for automatic promotion.

The Blades came very close to an immediate return to the top-flight last season, and they have assembled a menacing squad, particularly at the top of the pitch, to go again and compete at the top end under Paul Heckingbottom.


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This has created a brutal environment in terms of competition for places which has seen some players, especially the loanees, have to feed off of scraps in terms of league minutes.

Ollie Norwood explained that he still has a lot of faith in James McAtee, despite the Manchester City teenager struggling for regular involvement at the start of the season, when he spoke to the Manchester Evening News.

He said: “Once Macca gets up to speed with the Championship and the speed of it, you can see what a footballer he is.

“His technical ability, the positions he picks up, his touch… he’s a very, very gifted footballer and I think throughout the season everyone will see that.

“It’s just getting up to the physicality at times.

“It’s tough, it’s a tough division and teams aren’t going to give you the time to play.

“It’s a lot different but he’s learning, and it’ll be a good thing for him, being here.

“We’ve got quite a few senior players in the dressing room who are all helping him and hopefully he goes back to Man City a better player than when he first came here.

“The aim for those boys is to try and get in Man City’s first team, isn’t it?

“So, along the way they’re going to help us, and we’ve got to help them.

“I’ve been impressed with all of them, they’ve all had great attitudes and work hard with the group.

“The training ground standards are set by the players every day and they’ve joined in with that.

“They’ve been part of it and hopefully they can be successful for us and in their future careers.”

McAtee has shown his true class in patches, and the hectic schedule on the horizon should lead to further opportunities to shine in the second tier.

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While Iliman Ndiaye remains at Sheffield United and continues to produce the moments and performance levels that he has done so far this season, McAtee is likely to be playing second fiddle.

That is not to say that that will make this season a negative experience for the 19-year-old, it will be a test of character that was always going to come at some stage of his career, and the positive atmosphere in the dressing room that has been created at Bramall Lane so far this season should have a short and long term effect on McAtee’s trajectory.

It is good that McAtee has Tommy Doyle alongside him in battling to get into the team and it will be interesting to monitor how his situation plays out as we edge towards the turn of the year.

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