The McBurnie conundrum

Every impactful performance by Oli McBurnie this season – the latest instalment saw an assist, goal and another chalked off by a marginal VAR call – throws renewed focus on the conundrum Sheffield United face in the next few months. McBurnie's five-year deal expires this summer and it's a thorny dilemma as to what the club do.

On the one hand, United are clearly a different team when McBurnie is on the pitch. His eight goal contributions puts him level with the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Alexis Mac Allister, Scott McTominay and Leandro Trossard. He's been comfortably our best striker and one of the very few United players to look Premier League quality this season.

In that context, United should be locking McBurnie in a room with a new contract and not letting him out until he signs it.

The problem is availability and whether United are in a financial position to carry a high-earning injury-pone player (answer: probably not). McBurnie has started just 12 times this season, playing less than 1,000 minutes in total – a handful more than Luke Thomas who we sent back to Leicester in January.

He hasn't suffered repeated serious injuries, like Rhian Brewster, just regular niggles that mean he has not started more than three games in a row all season. It is maddening to see a struggling team repeatedly without their major attacking threat just after he’s shown us all what we’ve been missing.

It’s fair to assume McBurnie is one of the best-paid players at the club, and will probably have a decent market of suitors when his contract expires this summer. But do United really wave goodbye to their best striker, even allowing for the injury issues?

My hunch is that if Chris Wilder is still the manager – and all signs point to that being the case – then United will make a serious attempt to keep McBurnie. Several popular players will almost certainly be leaving at the end of their deals this summer, and retaining McBurnie would help ease that pain a little in the minds of fans for whom he is a popular, well-liked character.

It might prove to be out of our hands, especially if a team like Rangers – who McBurnie supports - pick up the phone at the end of June. But if the Blades can hold onto their number nine, I’ll personally be delighted every time he’s on the pitch – and tearing my hair out every time he’s not.

Ben Meakin can be found at BladesPod