Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker still inspire Sheffield United's future generations as Iliman Ndiaye drives on his team-mates

Four years after helping England to a World Cup semi-final and 18 months after the European Championship final, the defenders were again mainstays as the Three Lions reached the quarter-finals in Qatar.

Walker’s outstanding performance subdued arguably the player of the tournament, France's Kylian Mbappe, whilst Maguire shrugged off a difficult start to the season.

Both came through at their local club and remain an inspiration, along with current striker Iliman Ndiaye, who was in the Senegal side beaten by England in the last 16 as former Blades goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale watched from the bench.

"People talk about it," said manager Heckingbottom, who was previously the Blades’ under-23 manager. "I've heard Kyle and Harry be interviewed and how fondly they speak about the academy. There's going to be people listening."

Walker made just nine first-team appearances for the then-League One Blades before Tottenham Hotspur saw his and Kyle Naughton's potential and reportedly paid £9m for them in 2010. Walker, who later joined Manchester City, has 73 caps.

Maguire played over 150 times for the Blades before joining Hull City, and now captains Manchester United. He has 53 England appearances.

With Barnsley-born John Stones alongside them, South Yorkshire is doing a good job of supplying England, less so its own ranks, something former Barnsley manager Heckingbottom wants to change.

"I want to grow the academy, to become Cat(egory) One (the top rating of English academies) and get the facilties up to speed," he said. "It's got to be a priority if the club wants to grow and be a bigger force.

"Really me looking after my job should be about just looking after the first team but if I owned the club or was in a different position here, that's the way forward – to tap into all that potential dotted around the place and the coaching staff here.

"We want them to play first-team football for Sheffield United and you can still sell them. When they do get into the first team the money becomes huge and you can use that in a better way."

French-born Ndiaye was polished in the Blades academy, making his first-team debut in March 2021. Heckingbottom sees the 22-year-old as an inspiration too – and not only to the juniors.

"Del (Derek Geary) and Micky (Michael Collins) in the academy will be saying it's a great example,” he argued. “Iliman had a loan and we've got other players on loan now.

"Rhys (Norrington-Davies) did that and should have been at the World Cup (missing out through injury). I think he'd have played games for Wales.

"I was chatting to Sander (Berge) and there's no reason that Norway team shouldn't be at the next major championship.

"You could see them on that stage and that would be good for me to be able to sit back and watch Sander play there as well.

"George (Baldock) worked so hard to become part of the Greece national set-up to try and get to those tournaments.

"We've got lots of players who will dream of what Iliman's done."