Daniel Farke is the driving force behind Leeds United looking to keep one of their fringe players this summer.
Once the madness of last summer settled down, Farke found a pretty settled group of starters during his first season in charge and so as such, minutes were tough for a lot of players.
Charlie Cresswell, Joe Gelhardt, Mateo Joseph and Jamie Shackleton are just some of the younger players in the squad who will have perhaps been left feeling unhappy at their game time.
Cresswell has already been linked with a £3 million move to a European side, while it would not be a surprise if Gelhardt also sought an exit. Both of their last league starts came in August.
On the other hand, it is likely Joseph will be handed a more prominent role next season after coming off the bench several times to good effect. He is the type of player Leeds can build their squad around.
What is Jamie Shackleton’s stance on signing a new deal at Leeds
Leeds confirmed their retained list towards the back end of last week and there were certainly some interesting decisions on there.
Sam Byram was perhaps the most unsurprising one as the number of appearances he made triggered a new one-year extension, which is good business providing he is not relied on too much.
Upon returning from his loan spell at Birmingham City, Cody Drameh was a shock name to see offered fresh terms. However, that was done to ensure Leeds receive compensation when he joins a new club.
And the two other surprises on the list were that both Liam Cooper and Shackleton are in talks over new deals, despite their lack of starts last season.
It had looked certain Cooper would move but his future is now up in the air again. According to the Athletic, meanwhile, Farke is the driving force behind Shackleton being offered a new contract.
Shackleton played just 676 minutes of league action last season, with his last start coming back in October. Injuries really hampered the second half of his campaign.
With all that said, nothing has yet been signed by Shackleton to stay at Leeds as he does also have offers elsewhere, though it remains to be seen from what level.
As per the report, Shackleton is keen on getting more minutes under his belt next season and so surely if Leeds are looking at another promotion push, he will have to go elsewhere.
Ross McCormack hailed Shackleton as ‘fantastic’ last season
Despite how his season ended, Shackleton enjoyed a real resurgence during the first two months of 2023/24.
He started a number of matches at both left and right-back, winning plenty of praise from Farke for his displays, as well as former striker Ross McCormack.
One of his best displays came in the 3-0 win over Watford back in September, in which McCormack hailed his performance as ‘fantastic’.
“Yeah, you see it with a lot of teams nowadays, it’s a big part of how teams want to play, is how they use their full-backs. And I thought him [Shackleton] and Byram today were fantastic,” he told BBC Radio Leeds
