Jamie Shackleton has been lauded following his performance in Millwall’s win over Sheffield United on Saturday, with Gary Rowett labelling the Leeds United loanee absolutely outstanding – in comments reported by South London Press.
Shackleton has had a difficult time since heading out on loan. The 23-year-old was one player who was always in and around the first-team at Elland Road. And yet, he has struggled for starts with the Lions.
In fact, the youngster made only his 13th start in 27 appearances on Saturday. He was handed a chance in the absence of Billy Mitchell. And he helped Millwall get one over on Paul Heckingbottom’s side.
Rowett praises Shackleton after Millwall win
Millwall won 3-2 to strengthen their own promotion hopes in the Championship. Shackleton was lauded by some of his teammates on Instagram following the game. And Rowett has now outlined how impressed he was by the midfielder’s display.
“The biggest compliment I can pay Shacks, and it is no disrespect to Billy, is that we didn’t miss Billy. He’s been such a big player for us that I felt we would. It is a big blow, however Shacks was absolutely outstanding alongside Sav, who was really good as well,” he said, as reported by South London Press.
“He (Shackleton) only came off with a bit of cramp because he hasn’t played much. I said to him a month ago that you’re going to get game time and don’t be too disappointed. I couldn’t quite give it him that point, for different reasons, but now he has got the opportunity and he looked a player who really wanted to take that opportunity.”
It will be very interesting to see what the future holds for Shackleton. According to the South London Press, Millwall have an option to buy the Leeds player in the summer.
Therefore, it is quite difficult to see him returning to Elland Road. Much like Leif Davis last season, it is not the best sign if he ends up coming back to Leeds having not convinced a club to sign him permanently.
Having said that, Shackleton seems to be the kind of player who could step up whatever level he is playing at. He offers so much versatility. And he rarely let his standards drop, even when he was only coming into the Leeds team sporadically.
Unfortunately, some fans are now probably also giving some thought to which players would potentially feature in our squad should we return to the Championship next season.
Shackleton would definitely be someone who could force their way back into the Leeds squad next year, whichever division we are in. So it will be interesting to see whether Millwall do decide to keep him in the summer.
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