Oliver Arblaster

A look at some of the best players I’ve seen in the past few years at either U18s or U23s level or currently playing in non-league who've either left a really positive impression or whose careers I follow with genuine interest to see how they're doing every week.

Player: Oliver Arblaster

Age: 18

Position: Midfielder

Club: Sheffield United

Every so often in development football you come across a player who makes you go 'wow' at what they can do and how mature their performance levels are.

Whenever I've watched Sheffield United over the past 12 months (often on a live stream as the club's coverage has been excellent), plus on the rare occasions that I've spoken to him, Oliver Arblaster has left a great impression.

Ollie on his England debut against Belgium last November (Photo: Unknown). 

It's been a pleasure to see him taking stuff in his stride and just buzz around with so much energy, confidence and creativity. His qualities are endless and he has a specific aura which team-mates can feed off. It's a brilliant character trait to possess.

Skipper of the U23s and a totally level-headed lad, he's got loads of technical ability. Both his range and quality of passing is decent, whilst his positioning and reading of situations (both in and out of possession) improved as the season progressed. He contributed goals and some great assists (just ask QPR’s defence from the game in April), he can float around and find pockets of space to dictate, dominate and ‘kill teams’ as he did recently in the second half against Colchester, and he has a galvanising effect on his peers.

Players I've spoken to at other clubs who've played against him testify that he's a good player for that standard and it speaks volumes in football when opponents respect you in such a manner and can recognise quality when they see it.

Anyone who knows me will be aware that those players I respect, I'll research to the nth degree to find out everything about them. What they're capable of on the pitch is one thing; what they're like as a lad is just as important and Ollie passes both those key aspects with flying colours.

The past 18 months or so will have undoubtedly felt somewhat surreal at times.

In what I believe to be the correct order, he signed his first professional contract in February 2021, had the braces removed from his teeth quickly after lockdown, played at U23s level early last season and then went out on loan to Bradford Park Avenue. After making his first senior appearance away at Kidderminster in October, he received international recognition with England's U18s at a tournament in Murcia the following month, before he was recalled from his loan at BPA with Nicksoen Gomis just in time to celebrate Christmas properly.

Then, in this calendar year, he was named on the substitutes bench for the first team away fixtures at Coventry and Blackpool in March (cue an 'Arblaster 42' shirt which he'll keep forever), played cricket alongside Joe Root in a promotional video for Sky Sports, skippered the U23s to the PDL North title, celebrated his 18th birthday, before zipping the ball about for fun with Sydie Peck (who he beat in that 'bat and ball' game) to ensure the U18s stayed unbeaten and ended the year as PDL National Champions. 

If that's not enough then he also soaked Will Lankshear with a full water bottle in the celebrations whilst he was being interviewed after beating Charlton in the National Final.

He still has some areas for improvement; namely his dress sense given he committed a fashiion 'faux pas' by wearing brown shoes with a black belt to the Awards Dinner where he was named Premier League Scholar Of The Year recently, but just getting that award should sum up the impact he's making!

Ollie receiving his Premier League Scholar Of The Year Award (with the black belt hidden).
(Photo: Unknown).

If everything I've already written doesn't already highlight his undoubted talent then he's currently on international duty with England’s U18s again - this time for a tournament in Croatia where I'm not entirely sure just how much the Central European summer temperatures will affect his rosy red cheeks.

Paul Heckingbottom (now first team manager) previously managed 'Blaster' in the U23s and has already stated that he's got the 'brains of a man'. And I know myself, beyond what he does on a football pitch, he's completely down to earth without an ago and he'll conduct himself admirably for his age. He's way too mature, composed and level-headed to get carried away with anything.

No manager or coach can teach that quality of being a 'good lad' and possessing a specific desire and work-rate in the way which Ollie does is infectious because it can rub off on so many others in a positive way. It's easy to tell a player with a good attitude and I already know Ollie is the sort of person that managers would dream about having around a football environment on a daily basis.

With Sheffield United having so many bright players at U23s/U18s level from Zak Brunt (a really genuine lad with so much love for his brothers), Sydie Peck (a quality player who always seems to be smiling), Harrison Neal (solid on loan at Kettering and Southend last year), Will Lankshear (a regular goalscorer and leader in his own right) to Femi Seriki (a star on loan at Boston who forced his way into the Team Of The Week at one point) plus quite a few others, they're obviously not all going to become first team regulars in the immediate future.

Some will; some won't but every one of those names is capable of carving out a decent path in football and enjoying themselves for the next decade or two.

It's testament to Ollie's attitude, determination and quality (probably in that order) that he's already forced his way into being strongly recognised within such a good youth set-up and I'd like to believe he's close to breaking through into the first team. But wherever he gets an opportunity; whether it's at the Blades or on loan somewhere in the next few months, I hope he thoroughly enjoys it and I'll always support and follow his career with interest because of the qualities I've mentioned in this piece.

A class act. A class player and, more than anything, a class attitude.

Keep it going… take a moment this summer to reflect and absorb everything that's happened this season, then go again next year and enjoy yourself even more by creating memories you can tell your kids about in years to come!

And hopefully THAT photo (below) will happen one day soon where you're high-fiving Billy Sharp after a goal  just like you did at Bramall Lane all those years ago.

Billy Sharp celebrates with a high-five for 'Little Blaster' in the League One promotion season.
(Photo: Unknown).