Leeds United Jamie Shackleton
Leeds United‘s Jamie Shackleton could be set to join Millwall on loan, according to two separate sources.
The lowdown
The Whites have offloaded five players so far in the summer transfer window, with Kalvin Phillips’ £45m move to Manchester City the headline departure.
Meanwhile, Laurens de Bock has left for Zulte Waregem on a free transfer, Liam McCarron has joined Stoke City and Tyler Roberts has sealed a loan switch to Queens Park Rangers.
Intriguingly, Leeds have already sent one player to Millwall, with 19-year-old centre-back Charlie Cresswell heading to the Championship outfit earlier this week.
The latest
Graham Smyth, chief football writer at The Yorkshire Evening Post, says that there is the ‘potential’ for Shackleton to make what would be a ‘good’ loan move to The Den.
Meanwhile, Football Insider reported that Millwall have already agreed a deal with Leeds to take the 22-year-old to London on a temporary basis.
The verdict
Shackleton may only be 22, but he has already clocked up 78 first-team appearances for Leeds.
He made seven Premier League starts and 14 appearances overall in the top flight last season, with two more outings in the Carabao Cup.
Only one player who started at least five league matches could better his passing accuracy of 86.1% (Pascal Struijk), while only Phillips and Junior Firpo averaged more tackles per 90 minutes.
If you apply the same filter, Shackleton recorded the best xG plus/minus per 90 in the entire squad, which duly indicates that he’s a valuable player for the Whites.
Capable of playing at right-back and central midfield, he also brings welcome versatility; while he was named the club’s fittest player in 2021, which Jesse Marsch will surely appreciate given the American’s preference for a high-pressing approach.
If the mooted loan move to Millwall proves to be a success, Shackleton could conceivably force his way into the Leeds manager’s plans in the longer-term.
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