A season of struggle for 'terrific' Ismaila Coulibaly ahead of crucial Sheffield United decision

Paul Heckingbottom will soon be making a decision on the future of Ismaila Coulibaly. The Sheffield United-owned midfielder has spent the past two seasons on loan at United World sister club Beerschot in Belgium.

The 21-year-old is yet to feature for the Blades having arrived in the summer of 2020 from Norwegian outfit Sarpsborg 08. He was immediately shipped out on loan to gain the necessary qualifications for a visa to play in this country.

Following a change in qualifying criteria as a result of Brexit, Coulibaly has now qualified but risks losing that status if he features for the Antwerp-based club a third season in Belgium's second tier.

During the most recent international break the Mali midfielder teamed up with United for the first time at their Randox Health training base. It gave Heckingbottom the chance to assess his potential ahead of a crucial decision.

He admitted he will decide what's best for both him and club when the Belgium season finishes. Although the play-off for the European spots is continuing in the Jupiler Pro League, Beerschot's campaign has ended.

They finished bottom with just four wins from their four matches. Ahead of Heckingbottom's big decision, we spoke to Beerschot reporter Koen Frans, from Gazet van Antwerpen, to get the inside track on how he has performed.

"Not great. In the first few weeks of the season he still played okay, but the team couldn’t win any games in that period. When Peter Maes got sacked and Javier Torrente became the new manager things went from bad to worse for Coulibaly.

"He was not in the starting XI when Beerschot won their first game of the season (3-0 against Seraing). One game later he had to go off against KV Kortrijk with a small foot injury.

"In January