Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom believes he may have pulled off a coup beating Rangers to the £4 million signing of Premier League newcomer Benie Traore.
If things had worked out a little differently, two of Sheffield United’s summer signings could have been part of Mick Beale’s starting XI instead this weekend; Rangers facing off against Kilmarnock in Saturday’s Scottish Premiership opener.
As it is, Benie Traore will be sharing a dressing room with Auston Trusty south of the border instead.
The former joined in a £4 million deal from Swedish outfit BK Hacken in July, shortly before the latter arrived from Arsenal.
“He has pace. He likes to play on the shoulder, (on) the last man, but he’s also comfortable playing wide,” Heckingbottom tells the Sheffield Star of Traore.
“That’s where he came through, as a wide player. (But) we see him either as one of our front two or, if we play with a front three, one of the ‘tens’ or the ‘nine’. So we can play him anywhere across the front.”
Rangers miss out on Benie Traore
Rangers, according to the Scottish Sun, failed with a £2.8 million bid for Traore before the Blades made their move. The versatile 20-year-old arrives at Brammal Lane on the back of 12 goals in his last 14 Allsvenskan games, and Rangers will be hoping that Danilo – who arrived instead from Feyenoord – can make a bigger impact at Ibrox than Traore does in the Steel City.
It was not only Traore’s outstanding goal return which caught Beale’s eye, meanwhile. The Rangers boss demands not only impressive numbers but also a relentless work ethic from his centre-forwards, with Traore sharing Danilo’s willingness to hassle and harry opposition defenders.
“He’s shown a real appetite to press and set the press high, and he’s been really effective with that, which we like,” Heckingbottom adds. “And some of his goals have been really good in terms of his instinct and movement and willingness to attack the ball in the box.
“He’s a 20-year-old lad. We hope we’ve got him before anyone else. He’s just burst onto the scene if you like.
“His goal record’s fantastic and it’s one of those … if he continued having a good season or went into next season at the same level, we probably wouldn’t have been able to get hold of him. So we’ve struck early.”
