'I really love him' - Leeds United man's sliding doors moment as Daniel Farke delivers assessment - YEP 31/8/23

Jamie Shackleton had a sliding doors moment this summer when just about nothing appeared to be nailed down at Leeds United.

By Graham Smyth

Contracted players were sounded out about their future as Daniel Farke was being recruited and though many wanted out from the start and some would not make their real intentions known until moves came about, Shackleton's plan was clear - report for pre-season, impress Farke and play for Leeds.

A Leeds boy and a Leeds fan, Shackleton went away last season for a Millwall loan spell that could best be described as mixed and though clubs might have been taking a look this summer, was any offer going to be realistically better than staying at Elland Road? Still only 23, Shackleton has already played a part in getting his boyhood club out of the Championship and knows that doing so again would reap even greater memories, given the presence of his fellow Whites in the stands.

Pre-season is when a player like Shackleton can lay the groundwork with a new manager, because he always comes back in mint condition and prepared to run until the cows come home. He trains well. Bosses tend to like that.

An ability to charge about and press the ball might be enough to nail down a place in some managers' systems but Farke needs players who can be trusted with it, so it was never going to be possible for Shackleton to simply sprint his way into the German's plans.

What stood in his favour, beyond his on-pitch Road Runner impression, was that he remains a tidy player. He can be incredibly neat in possession. And, as he has shown with appearances at right-back, left-back, central midfield and right wing, he's versatile in the extreme.

With time left in what has already been a head-spinning transfer window at Elland Road, it would be foolish to ignore the ever-present possibility for change but Farke does appear to be very fond of Shackleton. Speaking after the Carabao Cup defeat at Salford City, in which Shackleton missed a shootout penalty but rarely missed a beat of his right-back assignment, the manager gave a glowing assessment of the youngster.

"I really love Jamie," Farke began.

"I think he's sometimes really underrated because he can play all positions. Wherever he plays he's always reliable, always solid, always a good teammate, gives us everything. Sometimes it's even a bit of his problem that he has to play so many different roles instead of coming into rhythm in one role but I think he proved again tonight that he is an unbelievable piece of our squad and I'm really really happy to have him, definitely."

Very few things lie outside the bounds of possibility at Leeds, still, as they work feverishly to deliver Farke a squad that will represent a successful window. With ins, often there are outs, sometimes not particularly of a club's choosing and there will come a time when Shackleton decides that regular football trumps squad player status with his boyhood club. He will, at some stage, want to nail down a starting role, somewhere, in a specific position, although versatility did little harm to Stuart Dallas in the halcyon days of Marcelo Bielsa's reign.

But the strength of Farke's words and Shackleton's own initial attitude to his immediate future this summer suggest that the time has not yet come for him to go through the door and out into the world that exists beyond Elland Road.

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