A minor knee injury looks to keep him out of the live televised game against the Blues on the 9th of August. Beattie who bagged 22 goals in the last campaign will be a big miss to the squad if it keeps him out for the beginning of the 2008/2009 season.
Darius Henderson put pen to paper yesterday so if Beattie is an absence, Henderson looks to make his first competitive Blades debut. The former Everton man was set to cross swords with 2nd top scorer for last season Kevin Phillips but now that looks very unlikely.
Beattie who has had his cartilage 'trimmed' will be assessed by the medical team at the Lane.