“Amazing” Wolves star linked with £60m Arsenal transfer to miss big Sheffield United clash in Blades boost

Sheffield United have been handed a potential boost ahead of their crunch weekend clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers after one of their “amazing” star men was stretchered off last weekend. Pedro Neto damaged a hamstring against Newcastle United and will miss the trip to Bramall Lane.

Neto claimed his seventh assist of the season against the Magpies before going off, and has been a key part of Gary O’Neil’s set-up at Molineux since he took charge. No player in the Premier League has created more goals so far this term - form seeing him linked with a big-money move to the likes of Arsenal - but O’Neil will be without his key man at Bramall Lane this weekend, with United looking for a first win to kickstart their faltering season.

Paul Heckingbottom, the United manager, will have little sympathy for his opposite number O’Neil, who could call upon the likes of Sasa Kalajdzic, Lionel Messi’s former PSG teammate Pablo Sarabia or £35m signing Fábio Silva to replace Neto. But it is an undoubted blow for Wolves, who travel north unbeaten in five Premier League outings.

“He’s an amazing player, so it’s going to be very difficult to cover his performances,” said forward Hwang Hee-chan of Neto, after scoring his sixth goal of the season against Newcastle. “But we have many good players, such as Sasa, Fabio and Pablo.

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“If you see us in training, you’d understand that our combinations are so good. It’s not just me, [Matheus] Cunha and Neto, but Sasa and Pablo all understand each other very well. So I think we have some players who can cover for Neto.”

United could also come up against one of their promotion-winning heroes from last season in the shape of Tommy Doyle, who joined Wolves on loan in the summer. O’Neil’s side have the option to make the move a permanent one for a bargain fee.

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“I’ve settled in really well, everyone has been brilliant with me and the club have been very helpful – the lads, too,” Doyle said recently. “I’m really happy and hopefully we can keep kicking on. I see it as a very hard-working club.

“Everyone comes in every day and demands the most off each other, which can only do us good. From top to bottom everybody seems really focused and hopefully we can continue going onto the pitch and putting in performances.”