Sheffield United's Iliman Ndiaye can trouble England with his dribbling, passing and shooting now Paul Heckingbottom has unlocked his talent

Anyone thinking too much about an England versus France quarter-final has not been watching a tournament of surprises that closely. Besides, Ndiaye’s Senegal are African champions.

Those who do not follow the Championship are unlikely to be quaking if Ndiaye is on the team-sheet. Blades fans know differently.

As a dribbler with good movement off the ball and an eye for goal, the 22-year-old has thrived since Paul Heckingbottom married his obvious talent with professionalism.

Although Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire and Aaron Ramsdale are also products of their academy, Ndiaye will be the only current Sheffield United player on show in Al Rayyan.

Perhaps supporters should want their man to do well, but not too well – a Senegal win will rule him out of next Saturday's game against Huddersfield Town and the club’s failure to heed manager Heckingbottom's requests to tie Ndiaye down to a new contract could make for a nervous January transfer window.

But England will not be up against the player in red-and-white stripes.

As Bramall Lane youth-teamer , Ndiaye was regarded as a tricky No 10 in the hole between midfield and attack. In 2022 he became more of a centre-forward, albeit a modern one happy dropping into midfield.

Where the Blades tend to play two up top, Senegal prefer Boulaye Dia to go it alone against the leading teams with wingers either side.

Having muscled into the XI with an assist against the Netherlands, Ndiaye played wide right in effectively a last-32 knockout game against Ecuador and put in a performance he will hope earns an encore.

The wings are a natural home for his skills.

"Wherever I've been I've been a dribbler with skills and all that," he said after September’s full club debut. "The main objective is to score goals but the tricks will follow."

No one in the Championship has completed more than his 42 dribbles this season, according to WhoScored.com.

Tuesday’s was the first international start for a player who only made his debut in June, but Ndiaye's career has been built on quickly gobbling up chances when they present themselves.

Ndiaye grew up in Marseilles but followed his father when work took them to Senegal, then – aged 14 – England. After football camps with Manchester United, Chelsea and Reading, then an unsuccessful trial with Southampton, he pitched up at Boreham Wood, who also produced Huddersfield’s World Cup representative Sorba Thomas.

Two years after turning professional, Ndiaye lost patience.

"I was at college and in the under-19s," he explained. "I didn't make the first team except for a few times on the bench but then Sheffield United came up (in 2019)."

After a 2020 loan at Hyde United, he met the Blades' new under-23s coach Heckingbottom, who unlocked his potential.

In his first game as caretaker manager in 2021, he handed Ndiaye a debut from the bench.

Six months on, Ndiaye was yet to add to it, held back by a contract stand-off. But as soon as it was clear agreement was imminent, then-manager Slavisa Jokanovic dangled the carrot of 30 League Cup minutes. Once the ink dried came a first start, two goals and an assist against Peterborough United.

It took a while to build on it. December’s televised goal at Fulham was fantastic, but his first since. His next was at Easter.

But having succeeded Jokanovic as manager in November, Heckingbottom was once more in a position to dole out some tough love to Ndiaye.

“I had to go after the young players," he recalled. "They were nowhere near the level, in terms of training, how they played, application. Within a few days of working with Iliman, he’d responded.”

He always says it is Ndiaye he is harshest on because he is convinced he is bound for the Premier League. The clear hope is that it is with the Blades.

"He's changed me completely," acknowledged Ndiaye. "Not in terms of skills but he's taught me discipline and the professional side of it."

Now he needed an opportunity.

A rash of injuries to centre-forwards saw him paired with Morgan Gibbs-White in a highly-effective makeshift front two.

Ndiaye scored four goals in the last five regular-season matches to put his club in the play-offs. His confidence lifted by replacing Dia from the bench in June's African Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin, he added nine more before the Championship stopped for the World Cup.

England’s Luke Shaw and Maguire are not the most comfortable against pace: the inside-right channel looks ripe for Ndiaye. When he gets into the area, he is not shy. The statisticians also have him top for Championship shots.

If England block off that avenue, the No 10 in him offers a plan B. An 81 per cent tournament pass success rate is a smidgeon behind his Championship stats.

The Blades did not create Ndiaye, they just found a manager who could harness him.

For that their supporters can be extremely grateful. Except, perhaps, on Sunday evening.