Sheffield United forward Oli McBurnie says he bounced right off Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk when he tried to push the Dutchman away from the ball.

Even though the £75m man was off balance, the centre-back still managed to shrug off the challenge and it led McBurnie to decide that he needed to hit the gym:

“I bounced off van Dijk and realised I needed to do a bit of bench press. He had everything and I felt like a little girl against him.”

“I’m skinnier than a lot of defenders so when the ball goes up in the air, I give them a nudge in the air and that’s always worked, at any level.”

“I tried it with van Dijk. He was off-balance, and I still bounced straight off him. I thought: ‘I’ll have to go and play off Joel Matip here instead!’.”

Van Dijk has done that to a countless number of Premier League forwards so McBurnie should not feel too disheartened. It is his first season playing in the Premier League and it will be a steep learning curve.

The Scottish international has not yet lived up to his £20m price tag, having scored just four goals in 26 league games so far this campaign.

However, McBurnie is still only 23 years of age, and under the guidance of a man like Chris Wilder, he is very much in the right hands to reach his full potential.