Danny Mills heaped praise on Leeds United midfielder Jamie Shackleton and shared he was impressed by the 19-year-old during the play-off clashes with Derby County.
The former Leeds defender revealed that he thought the central midfielder had been fabulous in the 2018/19 season and claimed he thought the teenager played very well when he got the chance to feature in the Championship play-offs.
“He is very very young, he has been fabulous and he played very very well when he came on during the play-offs,” said Mills on talkSPORT (Thursday May 23rd, available on listen again (28mins, 41secs).
Shackleton managed to appear 24 times for Marcelo Bielsa’s side in his 2018/19 campaign, and featured in both clashes against the Rams.
OPINION
Shackleton was thrown in the deep end during the first-clash against Derby as he was brought off the bench, but he seized his opportunity. The 19-year-old impressed so much during the first-leg that he ended up playing the full 90 minutes when Leeds hosted Frank Lampard’s side at Elland Road. While the Whites suffered a painful 4-2 defeat on that occasion which ended their hopes of promotion, Shackleton’s display was at least a slight positive to take from the match. Shackleton rarely completed 90 minutes in his 2018/19 campaign during the season, he played 90 minutes only three times in the league, and you feel Bielsa was easing him into his first-team plans. Based on the fact that Shackleton ended his season strongly, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the 19-year-old was handed more starts in his 2019/20 campaign; as you feel that Bielsa is very aware of his tremendous potential.