UPDATE: McBurnie scored a late equaliser in thrilling 3-3 draw with Manchester United at Bramall Lane on November 24. It was only his second substitute appearance, in all 37 minutes of playing time, since this post was published. He last started in goalless draw at Watford on October 5th.

OLI McBURNIE’S £20million club record transfer fee, eye-watering by Sheffield United's standards, dictates he is boss Chris Wilder’s go-to striker. But for how long?

First signs that may soon be no longer be the case surfaced this week when the 23-year-old Scot was dropped to the bench along with Callum Robinson for the visit of Arsenal. McBurnie has been there before but apart from any fitness issue, given the Blades went into the fixture on the back of three home defeats knowing what a huge difference victory would make to their confidence and league standing, it was the biggest match of the season so far. Big matches need big players and McBurnie was merely offered a cameo role.

To date, having now played in all United’s Premier League fixtures – he came on in the 85th minute against the Gunners – McBurnie has hardly set the game alight, scoring just one goal in nine appearances.

Five starts and four from the bench adding up to 465 minutes of regulation match time – 525 if you include Cup fixtures. He has managed just nine league attempts at goal, only two of them on target, and one assist.

Not quite what was expected when he signed from Swansea City in the summer, where he finished last season with 24 goals. Twenty-two of them in the Championship including the winner against the Blades at the Liberty Stadium (1-0) and Swansea’s equaliser in a 2-1 win at Bramall Lane on the opening day of the campaign.

WORRYING

More worrying, apart from his glancing header against Southampton in front of the Kop ruled out by VAR, the Leeds-born Scottish international hasn't looked like adding to his meagre tally. Well down on his career average of a goal every three outings. It’s not as if the bar is particularly high, either. Lys Mousset’s winner against Arsenal makes him the Blades top scorer with two goals.

News that McBurnie was charged with drink driving in his native Leeds during the latest international break having pulled out of Scotland’s squad due to injury, has done nothing to help establish his credentials at the Lane.

Video footage of him saying he hoped he wasn’t called up for his country in the first international break, dismissed as “banter”, resulted in him addressing his Scotland teammates to explain himself following a training session last month.

It’s telling that Wilder included McBurnie in both United’s Carabao Cup ties despite making sweeping changes in an attempt to get him firing on all cylinders. Subbed at half-time in a 2-1 win against Blackburn and thrown on early in second half of a miserable 1-0 defeat to League One Sunderland, a result which infuriated Wilder.

McBurnie continues to be an enigma upon whom Blades fans are pinning a great deal of expectation. But he can’t complain that he hasn’t been given enough opportunity to show what he can do or that supporters aren't showing support and patience.

DISQUIET

Not so at international level where he is experiencing disquiet from unimpressed Scotland fans. Eight appearances without a goal for the player who withdraw with injury from the current round of Euro 2020 qualifiers. Unfortunate since opportunity was there as they hammered San Marino 6-0 at Hampden Park, John McGinn scoring the first Scotland hat-trick in 67 years.

Scotland goalkeeper David Marshall rushed to McBurnie’s defence, saying: “I don’t think you can judge Oli after two qualifiers [this season] at international level. He has scored a lot of goals in the Championship and is finding his feet in the Premier League as well.”

Of course strikers are largely reliant on service to the frontline and it’s fair to say that hasn't been as regular as in past seasons under Wilder. The steep upgrade in quality of opposition now faced has seen to that. So less opportunity for overlapping centre halves and raids down either flank by attacking fullbacks.

Effectively applying a handbrake given how fundamental the tried and trusted method by which they have risen from League One to the top flight within three seasons is to United. Delivery into the box this season, too, has fallen short of what it might have been.

SHRUG

Nevertheless, McBurnie was brought in to score goals and despite those extenuating difficulties, he has looked nothing like the clinical finisher United fans thought they were getting. Mention McBurnie in conversation with many Blades fans and there is a shrug of the shoulders. Not much to say apart from a muted suspicion he maybe money wasted.

That view is bolstered by what is happening on the south coast. First choice target in the summer, Neal Maupay, who opted to join Brighton, has scored three times for the Seagulls in seven league appearances. Parallels can be drawn.

Like McBurnie, he attracted attention in the Championship last season with Brentford, scoring 25 league goals, 28 in total – Norwich City’s Teemu Pukki was top Championship marksmen on 29 (30 in total). Like McBurnie, Maupay commanded a £20m fee and both played for mid-table clubs who finished a point apart.

Regrettably, Republic of Ireland international Callum Robinson, signed from Preston North End for an undisclosed fee believed to be £7m, also falls into a similar category. Unlike McBurnie, Robinson’s presence is much more obvious due to his industrious style which is pleasing on the eye. Nevertheless, one goal from eight league appearances, seven of them starts, tells its own story.

IRONY

The supreme irony on Monday night was that whilst the most expensive player in United’s history by a country mile watched almost the entire match from the dug-out, David McGoldrick, a man a month short of nine years his senior and who cost nothing after impressing on a pre-season trial in 2018, started alongside match-winner Lys Mousset.

Didzy hasn’t scored for the Blades this season, but his value and contribution to the team is hugely appreciated by supporters who gave him a standing ovation when substituted in the second half against Arsenal.

Something McBurnie, a man who is not yet earning his wages, nor justifying what increasingly looks like an inflated transfer fee, would do well to reflect on.