Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom discusses extent of injury to Blades player ruled out of Sunderland clash | OneFootball

After featuring as a substitute in the first two games of the season, Sharp started away at Middlesbrough on Sunday, however, he was taken off at half-time with an injury sustained in the first half.

Speaking ahead of the Blades’ clash with the Black Cats tomorrow night, Heckingbottom discussed the extent of the injury and revealed there is no exact time-frame on Sharp’s return.

“There’s not a time-frame really,” Heckingbottom explained, via The Yorkshire Post.

“He’s not had a scan yet because it’s did swell up.

“He did it after 10-15 minutes, he stood on an opponent’s foot and rolled his ankle so the fact he played on, we knew it would swell up.

“At half-time when we went to look at it, it just seized up and there’s no way he could have come out again.

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“If we feel it needs a scan, which it probably will do, we’ll scan in.

“He’s certainly out tomorrow [v Sunderland] but we’ll take it from there.

“We’ve had a few real innocuous ones over the last few weeks, hopefully we’ve had them all at once.”

Sheffield United versus Sunderland is set for an 8PM kick off on Wednesday 17th August.

The Verdict

Billy Sharp’s absence will be a blow for Sheffield United as they prepare to face Sunderland tomorrow night.

But, hopefully for the Blades, his absence will not be a long-term one.

Heckingbottom will surely be sweating on any potential scan, though, as he will not want to lose his skipper for any significant period of time.

The fact he played the remainder of the half after sustaining the injury perhaps suggest it is not a very serious one, but the Blades will no doubt want a firm diagnosis and potential return date as soon as the swelling goes down.