Ravel Morrison is ready to make his first Premier League appearance in five years, according to Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder.
The former Manchester United trainee is back in the English top flight after signing a 12-month deal with the Blades this summer, following spells in Italy, Mexico and Sweden.
Morrison has yet to appear for Wilder’s team in the opening two matches this season, not even making the bench, but did play in a behind-closed-doors game against his former club United this week.
The 26-year-old forward, who can also play in midfield, will hope to be involved against Leicester at Bramall Lane on Saturday but if he is not then he will likely make his debut against Blackburn in the Carabao Cup on August 27.
“He’s ready. He’s been in both squads without playing but we played a behind-closed-doors game against Manchester United in the week and he played 90 minutes in that,” said Wilder.
“It was a great exercise for us against about £200million worth of talent. When we talked about playing a behind-closed-doors against Manchester United and then all of a sudden some unbelievably talented footballers came walking over towards our boys, it was a bit like ‘wow, this is a proper game!’
“It was a good exercise for our boys against world-class players and we certainly appreciate the opportunity going over to Manchester United and them putting the game on for us.
“But Rav has a big part to play, he knows that. We talk about picking the side and it’s a difficult selection process for myself and picking the subs as well. There’s a lot of competition to even get on the bench and we need that.”
Wilder also revealed forward Callum Robinson will be fit for the weekend after coming off injured against Crystal Palace on Sunday. However, the news was not so good regarding midfielder John Fleck.
“We’ve a doubt about John Fleck but Callum has trained all week,” he said. “Those two both had to come off with injuries but we’ll give John that time to recover.”
The Blades have made a solid start to life back in the Premier League, building on their opening-day draw at Bournemouth by defeating Palace 1-0.
Ahead of Leicester’s visit to Bramall Lane, Wilder insists his squad are not getting ahead of themselves.
“They won’t get carried away, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “They haven’t done for three years so they certainly won’t after two games in a different league.
“I’ve always kept my feet on the ground, I’ve never got ahead of myself. I think it’s a dangerous game to do that whether you’re a player, manager or a coach.
“At the moment I’m in the Premier League but I want to stay in here for a number of years and that’s got to be our attitude. That’s an attitude that’s driven myself on personally and I look at our players and I see a lot of similarities in their approach as well.
“The drive from the staff and the message that comes across all the time is a consistent one so that’s why I can confidently say that they’ll never get ahead of themselves because it’s not a trait that my team has.”
