Sheffield United‘s Oli McBurnie stance becomes clearer amid Leeds United murmurings

A recent revelation from the Blades boss will deal Leeds United a fresh transfer blow

Leeds United’s striking shortcomings are well documented.

With 13-goal frontman Rodrigo departing this summer to Qatari outfit Al-Rayyan upon the Whites’ return to the Championship, they are notably short-staffed at the top of the pitch and have had a real dearth of viable options to call upon in their opening three encounters.

Winger Wilfried Gnonto lead the line in the Elland Road curtain-raiser against Cardiff City and proved a real thorn in the Bluebirds’ side, however, the Italian has since engineered what can politely be defined as unfavourable circumstances.

Of course, after being informed that Leeds would not be willing to sanction a sale amid his wishes for a departure, he ruled himself out of contention, a stance which has led manager Daniel Farke to exile him from the dressing room and first-team training sessions.

Promptly, Joe Gelhardt has been entrusted with a window of opportunity, and while he did get on the scoresheet in his side’s 2-1 EFL Cup victory over Shrewsbury Town last week, he emerged as one of numerous Leeds forwards unable to register any form of impact on proceedings as they subsequently fell to a demoralising defeat away to Birmingham City on Saturday afternoon.

Georginio Rutter is also waiting in the wings, however, his sheer lack of action since moving to Yorkshire in January means that it will likely be some time before he gets his chance, whereas the plagued injury fortunes of Patrick Bamford make him a somewhat unreliable proposition, too.

Leeds are believed to have launched a striker search that has persisted even before the draw with Cardiff in their Championship curtain-raiser, and strong links to Swansea City’s Joel Piroe have transpired.

Elsewhere, though, there was a school of thought that a raid on Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United for Leeds-born forward Oli McBurnie would have represented a logical and sensible swoop before the window slams shut later this month.

But, while McBurnie now has just twelve months left to run on his current Bramall Lane deal, Blades chief Paul Heckingbottom has played down any possibility of such an exit happening.

What has Paul Heckingbottom said about Oli McBurnie’s Sheffield United future?

While undertaking media duties ahead of his side’s trip to Nottingham Forest on Friday evening, Heckingbottom was asked of the possibility of fresh contractual discussions with the 27-year-old.

He told The Star that he “hopes so”, while also confirming that there has been no contact from the Whites and explained that McBurnie “is staying” at the club this summer.

Heckingbottom said: “Oli is staying – everyone knows with me and him it’s a bit of tough love. I’ve got loads of time for him but I also know that certainly in the last few years at Sheffield United, people haven’t seen him at his best of what I know – and also what Oli knows he can do.

“How do you get the best out of Oli? Just push him and don’t take no for an answer – that’ll be the approach again.”

Would Oli McBurnie have been a good signing for Leeds United?

McBurnie is a signing that would have made a lot of sense for Leeds, all the while promising to address their glaring woes within the striker stable.

A former Leeds academy player in his youth, McBurnie has proved a real hit at Championship level over the years and hit 22 strikes in the 2018/19 campaign for Swansea to earn his move back to the north with the Blades.

More recently, he has returned to the top-flight fresh off the back of a 13-goal haul to aid United’s successful promotion bid at the first time of asking, finishing as the side’s second-top scorer after Iliman Ndiaye.

And though he has faced adversity in the Premier League- his seven league goals across two full seasons are a drawback for teams with designs of strutting their stuff at English football’s summit- few can downplay his threat at this level and that knack of knowing where the back of the net is remains all too absent in Farke’s team at the minute.