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Shackleton can emulate Alexander-Arnold by excelling after moving to from midfield to right back
Young players often get their first opportunity within first team football in wider areas, either at full back or on the flanks of midfield.
The energetic nature of the role as well as its relative lack of risk compared to a more central position makes it ideal, but it can force some players into a positional change.
Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool has embarked upon that already. With the Reds’ engine room hard to penetrate on a regular basis, the local lad has been given the opportunity to solve the club’s weak spot at right back instead and grabbed it with both hands.
He was exceptional in last night’s 4-0 Champions League semi-final second leg win over Barcelona and has a real chance of being England’s first choice right back for the Nations League in the summer.
And Jamie Shackleton at Leeds has done something similar this term. Marcelo Bielsa feels he is more suited to a right back role he had never previously played before this season and that’s where he’s got his opportunities.
It’s hard enough to impress as a young player in your own position, let alone in one Shackleton has learned on the job but he has caught the eye – and has perhaps deserved more gametime.
Next season could well be his year to really explode into life just as Alexander-Arnold has – which would no doubt please the Elland Road faithful greatly.