BY KIERAN HILL
Jamie Shackleton: Millwall’s answer to Ngolo Kante?
Jamie Shackleton is the second player of whom Millwall have loaned out from Yorkshire side Leeds United and will hopefully become a key player for the Lions this season before moving back to Leeds next season. The 22-year-old has a lot of valuable traits in which he can hopefully use to bolster the Lions’ play-off push, in this article I will delve a bit deeper into what “Shacks” can bring to SE16 this season.
Shackleton is known for his pace and high-level fitness, with Joe Urquhart of the Yorkshire Evening Post writing that “his feet scarcely seem to touch the turf when he skims across it”.
Versatility
One thing in which Rowett has tried to do with certain Millwall players in the past is attempting to get them comfortable with playing in multiple positions. For instance, Murray Wallace often filled in at Left-Wing back last season when Scott Malone was injured, even though Wallace is by trade a centre- half.
With Shacks, he has already proven at Leeds that he can play in various positions. He is originally a central midfielder, which is where he has played so far for the Lions, however, if we ever need cover in either full back positions, he has played at both right back and left back for Leeds previously. This could be an extremely useful asset for Millwall for Gary Rowett to utilise, as both of our current starting full backs can be injury prone and will most likely not be able to play all 46 games this season.
Experience
Despite the fact that Shackleton is just 22 years old, he comes into the side having played some of the highest-level football out of the whole squad. The 22-year-old has made 41 Premier League appearances, with 13 of those coming in the season where they finished mid-table. There is no doubt that Shackleton is more than ready to take the Championship by storm!
When it comes to the saying “don’t fall in love with a loan player” a certain Daniel Ballard comes to mind, however, there is potential that Jesse Marsch may allow us to keep Shackleton next season, seeing as the defensive midfield role is somewhere in which Leeds have invested a lot of money in this summer, signing the highly rated American Tyler Adams as well as ex Bayern Munich defensive midfielder Marc Roca. Therefore, the hopeful thing for us Millwall fans is that Marsch may decide that he no longer needs the likes of Shackleton in the side.
IMAGE – MILLWALL FC
