Paul Heckingbottom has been left furious with how the Republic Of Ireland has utilised John Egan during this world cup break.
Egan is the only player for United to play every single minute in the cup and the league this season. On top of that, Egan has played 90 minutes for the Republic Of Ireland on several occasions.
He played the full 90 minutes in two of Ireland’s four Nations League matches in June, only missing the 1-1 draw with Ukraine and featuring for 62 minutes in the home fixture.
He then played both 90 minutes in the space of four days for Ireland during the September break in the matches away at Scotland and at home to Armenia.
During this break, the Sheffield United manager requested for Egan to have some form of break in play, however that request was ignored for the sake of international friendlies.
Egan featured for Ireland against Norway at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday, before flying out to Malta for yesterday’s match, which means he has played two lots of 90 minutes in the space of four days.
With other Sheffield United players due to play behind-closed-doors friendlies to prepare for the Championship restart on the 10th of December, Heckingbottom may have no choice but to give Egan a lighter training schedule compared to the rest of the first-team squad.