OPINION
There is very little that Leeds United fans love to see more than a homegrown talent breaking though from the academy and onto the Elland Road turf as a senior star, and recently there has been quite an influx of quality youngsters making the grade.
There have been a number of figures who have made the step up from youth and reserve football into Leeds’ first team over the past 12 months, most notably the likes of Bailey-Peacock Farrell, Tom Pearce and Conor Shaughnessy.
It goes to show that the Whites have done a fantastic job at nurturing these youngsters and developing their talents to get them ready for the first team, and manager Marcelo Bielsa appears unafraid of continuing the trend of bringing the next generation through as soon as possible.
This season has seen 19-year-old Jamie Shackleton brought through into the senior side, making his first five appearances for the club, three of those as Championship appearances, one coming in the starting XI.
The youngster has been speaking about his future, revealing that Bielsa is keen to have him as something of a utility man – having started his career as a winger, before moving to central midfield and now right back – and it is something that the teenager is keen to follow.
He told the LFE’s Touchline magazine (October 2018, P9): “He’s played me a bit at right-back and he’s spent a lot of time with me. I’ve enjoyed playing there, with the way we play it’s an attacking position and I like to go forward as I did in midfield.
“I think it’s a good quality to be able to play a few positions.”
So Shackleton is a former winger who has been utilised as a full back and in the middle of the park, and if that sounds like a familiar combination for Leeds fans, it is because another current star fits the same bill.
Step forward Stuart Dallas, the winger who has filled in exactly where the youngster is looking to play as a utility man – and it is for that reason he needs to be binned.
While the Northern Irish international is an experienced head, he is hardly a regular for Leeds, and right now he is acting more like a hurdle to Shackleton than anything else.
That is not going to help the youngster’s cause at a crucial time of his development, when he should be playing much more regularly for the first team, and unless Dallas gets out of his way, the teenager could end up sinking without a trace.
Competition is healthy, but when it is unnecessary, as is the case with the two utility men, it breeds more harm than good, and when one is a future star, the priority needs to be on making sure he reaches the top.
Bielsa needs to axe Dallas to ensure he gets the best out of Shackleton, for if the 27-year-old continues to block his teammate’s path, it could all go south for the youngster.