Fan Talk with Hal the Blade: Replacing Ndiaye is key to survival

Hal Stewart, co-host of the Sheff United Way YouTube channel, knows the departure of Iliman Ndiaye is a crushing blow but insists all is not lost ahead of the Blades' return to the Premier League.

Blades are back

Sheffield United are back in the Premier League — but what happens in the rest of the transfer window will determine whether I'm excited for this season or not.

Now the Iliman Ndiaye saga is over, who we replace him with is crucial.

It's not ideal to have had this rumbling on ahead of a campaign where survival is everything — but I'm not writing us off by any stretch of the imagination.

Bramall Lane will be rocking for every game and fans will make it as intimidating as possible.

If you're a Fancy Dan with all the tricks and flicks, it's not the place for you!

Live and let Ndiaye

Losing Ndiaye is a big blow for us after such a brilliant season in the Championship. He really stepped out of Morgan Gibbs-White's shadow and took on that maestro role.

He can take the game by the scruff of the neck and win them on his own. In many ways he was the only creative force, with the players around him doing the hard yards.

Players like that are hard to come by, so covering his loss will be easier said than done.

Similar story

Premier League fans will remember us taking the top flight by storm in 2019-20 and we'll play a similar way this time, despite being a slightly less settled side as it stands.

We were an unknown quantity when we finished ninth that season but you could say we're a more well-versed to the top flight with the group being largely the same.

You can expect our renowned overlapping centre-backs, wing-backs bombing forward and one-touch passing. Everyone knows their job.

It ended pretty horribly with that relegation behind closed doors the following campaign and the players will be keen to right those wrongs.

Sensible approach

Paul Heckingbottom made it pretty clear after our promotion that we would not be going for the star names and instead look to unearth gems from abroad.

With Anis Slimane, Yasser Larouchi and Benie Traore as our incomings so far, he's certainly stayed true to his word. 

Whether they're successes remains to be seen but why not go down that route?

We've seen the likes of Brentford and Brighton achieve success with a similar approach and it seems the best way for a team like mine to compete at the top level.

What the Heck?

The boss is a big part of helping these players settle quickly. And in Heckingbottom, we have a top manager who is perhaps still underrated in wider circles.

I love him and thought he should have got the job when Slavisa Jokanovic was initially chosen after relegation. He finally got his chance and he's been fantastic.

Hecky's no-nonsense and speaks his mind but he's willing to blood youngsters — much more so than Chris Wilder was.

I personally think he will go on to achieve great things in the game. 

Hal the Blade was speaking to Cian Cheesbrough