Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has confirmed Jairo Riedewald will be sidelined for a “couple of weeks” after the defensive midfielder missed Saturday’s game against Charlton with a hamstring injury.

The 29-year-old has started 12 league games for the Blades since joining on a free transfer from Belgian side Royal Antwerp in October.

This season, United have had to manage the minutes of midfielders Oli Arblaster, Siddie Peck and Tom Davies, who have all struggled with injury problems.

Djibril Soumareh received a red card at The Valley and received a three-match suspension, which will further deplete the engine room ahead of the midweek trip to Southampton.

“This is a big, big blow. Given the situation with Oli, Sidi and Tom, it was a big blow to have him out on Saturday. It will be from tomorrow night into the weekend,” Wilder told BBC Radio Sheffield.

“He’s going to be out for a few weeks, capping off a really disappointing and strange 48 hours from where we were.

“We’ll see what happens after the Ipswich game and hopefully he’ll be available for the Millwall game.” [on 31 January].

”[It’s a ] It was a big blow for him, too, because I think everyone knows what kind of character he is, what he does for the team, and how he drives the team.”