Paul Heckingbottom's Sheffield United challenge to Ismaila Coulibaly after taking key decision

Ismaila Coulibaly has been told he will earn a place in Sheffield United's squad for 2022-23 campaign if he can impress manager Paul Heckingbottom during pre-season. The Mali-born midfielder arrived at the club's Randox Health Academy this week.

The club is still waiting for his visa to arrive from the relevant authorities, but it is expected to be here in time for him to feature in the friendly matches and for him to be part of the club's tour to Portugal.

As Yorkshire Live revealed last week, it promises to be an important summer for the 21-year-old as he looks to stake a claim for a Sheffield United shirt. He has spent the past couple of seasons on loan at United World sister club Beerschot in Belgium having joined in the summer of 2020 from Norwegian side Sarpsborg.

Heckingbottom had a look at him in March during the international break and although the experience was an eye opener for the youngster, the Blades boss was impressed with what he saw.

And so too was Coulibaly.

"We brought him over to look round, meet everyone and get involved and he loved it," Heckingbottom told Yorkshire Live. "He'd not experienced that.

"It gave him a little boost because he was coming off the back of a bad injury in his back, which really affected him. He found it tough in terms of the physicality of it and training intensity. He'd been out a long time and was just coming back from his injury.

"He's going to find this tough as well and this pre-season tough. We want him to experience it and want him to get the full benefit of it and see where he is."

He enjoyed a really good first season with Beerschot. He found the net five times from midfield and also grabbed the headlines in a 2-1 win over Anderlecht when he dominated the match