Sheffield United first-teamer identifies potential key advantage for Blades in promotion race | OneFootball

Sheffield United wing-back George Baldock believes the Blades’ squad depth could be crucial to winning promotion at the end of this season, speaking to Yorkshire Live.

The Blades brought in five players during the summer transfer window, with Anel Ahmedhodzic and Ciaran Clark both coming in to address a central defence that was lacking options with Jack O’Connell remaining out of action at this stage and Filip Uremovic leaving on the expiration of his deal at Bramall Lane.

They also moved to replace former key man Morgan Gibbs-White, with Reda Khadra and James McAtee hoping to fill the void that Nottingham Forest man created with his departure.

Quiz: Did Sheffield United win, draw or lose the last time they played at these 18 stadiums?

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The City Ground

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And Tommy Doyle has come in to replace Conor Hourihane, with Paul Heckingbottom’s side having very few weak areas when they have a fully fit or nearly fully fit squad at their disposal.

However, they have suffered heavily with injuries so far this season with John Fleck out of action, Ciaran Clark having his game time limited, Jayden Bogle spending much of the season sidelined along with Adam Davies and Billy Sharp also taking time to get back to full fitness.

So far though, they have managed to cope reasonably well and currently sit at the top of the table going into this round of midweek fixtures. And Baldock believes their squad depth could be crucial in their quest to seal a return to the Premier League.

He said: “I don’t think many teams would be able to survive the number of injuries we’ve had this year.

“It would have been difficult but we are blessed to have a fantastic squad with people who can play in numerous positions. You’ve seen Rhys Norrington-Davies play in a couple of positions and he’s been fantastic.

“It just shows the versatility of a few in there. I think that helps as well. If we are to achieve something this year, a lot of it will be down to the depth of the squad.”

The Verdict:

There were a couple of positions they looked light in during the early stages of the season, with their right wing-back area looking quite bare without the presence of Bogle.

This is in contrast to their left-hand side, where they have Enda Stevens, Max Lowe and Rhys Norrington-Davies as options that can come in and do a job there. Ben Osborn’s versatility may have come in handy – but he’s left-footed.

Their goalkeeping area also looked light with Davies out of action – but having three senior shot-stoppers in the second tier would be costly in the second tier and Jordan Amissah didn’t do a bad job when called upon.

Injuries will dictate what they do during the January transfer window, though they won’t want to add too many faces considering their squad is reasonably settled at this stage.

They have the quality and depth needed to sustain a promotion push, so the winter will probably be used to make one or two tweaks if needed, with Heckingbottom potentially set to be one of the least busy managers in the transfer market at that point.