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There are few better ways to embody just how much changed at Leeds United this season than by look at the year that Jamie Shackleton has had.

On May 11, 2018 the fresh-faced academy hopeful was one of ten players who came off the bench during the second half of Leeds United's 2-0 win over the Myanmar national team at the Mandalar Thiri Stadium in Mandalay.

Fast forward 12 months to the day and he was playing - and playing well - in Leeds United's semi-final play-off first leg win at Derby County.

The 19-year-old has been one of many success stories coming out of the Thorp Arch academy this season, a regular member of Marcelo Bielsa's first-team squad and key figure in Carlos Corberan's national title winning under-23 side, with his energetic displays earning him somewhat of a cult following among Leeds supporters.

(Image: Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The call to 'free Shackleton' was sounded across the fanbase over the final third of the campaign amid Bielsa's preference to stick with his usual starting XI, so it was somewhat fitting that the teenager finally got the chance for an extended run out on the turf where he made his senior debut.

Shackleton's 17-minute cameo against the Rams at Pride Park in August came amid a whirlwind few weeks for the youngster, who followed that up by signing a new contract, playing 90 minutes in the Carabao Cup and then a first league start at Swansea.

That was the culmination of 12 years of graft at the Thorp Arch academy, with the club bringing him from Kippax Athletic at the age of seven, before he singed forms when he was nine.

"[It was] a lot of hard work," Shackleton said following his debut in August. "I've worked with a lot of different coaches that have all helped me along the way. Some really good coaches and a few setbacks at times.

(Image: Alex Dodd/CameraSport)

"I've played an age group down before due to my size, but ultimately it's all helped me and yeah, the hard work has gone into getting where I am at the moment."

One of those coaches was Neil Redfearn, who went on the record back in 2016 to talk up his chances.

"There's a little boy, a midfield player called Jamie Shackleton. I think he's got a great chance," said the former Whites academy boss and head coach.

"I think he's a good footballer, he's got great feet. He's not the biggest, but he's very tenacious. He reads the game well."

One of Shackleton's key attributes is proving to be his down-to-earth nature, evident when he revisited these comments.

"Well I was still playing 18s football, bit of 23s football at that time so it was still a way to go to playing first-team football I thought," he said. "It's a good thing to hear from a first-team coach and for him to have that belief in me and it's good that he's been right about it."

A seven-month injury lay-off during the first year of his apprenticeship was one of these blows, but Shackleton's application saw him return stronger than ever as he worked his way into being a regular in the under-23s squad last season before getting the nod to travel with the Paul Heckingbottom's first-team squad at the end of last season.

"Going to Myanmar was my first experience of being away with the club," he told the LFE in October. "They’re mad for football out there – so many people treated us like celebrities and it was all a bit mad really!

“I don’t think they knew who we were but just seeing an English club coming to play in their country, they loved it. It let me know I was close to the first-team at that point and gave me an insight into first-team experiences and being around the senior players.”

That initial taste of the first-team was followed by another summer of change, as Marcelo Bielsa came in to replace Heckingbottom in June.

The Argentine arrived in West Yorkshire fresh from a marathon videotape session, watching every game the club had played the season before and had seen plenty of Shackleton's under-23s exploits. He obviously liked what he saw, as the youngster was quickly put in with the first-team for pre-season training.

(Image: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

“It’s not what I expected when I came back for pre-season. I came in and trained with them and, to be honest, didn’t expect to be as involved as I have been,” he said.

A number of outings in pre-season followed as Bielsa debuted him at right-back, rather than in the central midfield role in which he had come through the ranks at the academy.

Converting players to new positions has been a hallmark of Bielsa's career and it soon became obvious what the new Whites head coach saw in Shackleton, who's energy and surging runs down the right-hand side made him an obvious fit for Bielsa's system at Leeds.

Ever the eager student, Shackleton, who is already eyeing his coach badges, was quick to embrace this new role and says he now struggles to chose a preference between the two positions.

“I’ve been asked this a lot. It depends on the game, I do enjoy both. If you had asked me before this season: centre-mid all day long,” he said.

“I have enjoyed getting to know the position at right-back this year and that’s where I’ve played the majority of the time, so I enjoy both, I can’t pick for you.”

Despite an eye-catching first start against Swansea, when he got the nod minutes before kick-off after an injury to Liam Cooper in the warm-up and would go on to register an assist, Shackleton would have to settle mainly for cameo roles as the season progressed.

This is where he showed the kind of attitude that has won him so many fans among the Leeds United supporter base has served him so well.

“That’s a minimum, really. You need to have talent as well, but if you go out there and you work hard and everyone can see that then you can’t really complain,” said Shackleton.

"If you're good enough you're given a chance in the first team at some point so if you keep your head down and keep working hard every day in training, then it's going to come. You've got to believe that."

Shackleton would spend the majority of the second half of the season involved in Bielsa's matchday squads, while helping Corberan's side to the PDL National under-23s crown.

And this synergy between Corberan's side and the first-team has only helped this integration.

"It mirrors the first team and it works for both, so he can bring ideas from that and work with us," the Leeds-born teen continues. "When we go out there we play we play stuff that's similar to the first team and it's good to watch, so Carlos has been key to that.

"He's key here. He's the step between first team and the 23s and his ideas reflect on both teams. He helps when you play in the first-team, he helps when you play in the 23s. He's done a great job."

While for most 19-year-olds, establishing yourself in the first-team squad of a promotion candidate managed by one of world football's most respected coaches, plus a national title at youth level would mark an incredibly successful season, but it would appear Shackleton is not done yet.

When fit, Adam Forshaw is a regular name on Bielsa's teamsheets, meaning opportunities for Shackleton in his favoured central midfield position have been few and far between, given the from of Matuesz Klich and Kalvin Phillips.

So when the former Boro midfielder sank to the turf in the centre-circle just over 20 minutes into the first leg at Pride Park, Shackleton was presented with an opportunity to stake a claim.

Just as he shown all season, there were no signs of nerves from the 19-year-old, who took to his task with aplomb, as Leeds' press strangled the life out of Derby's key attacking players, which was in no small measure down to Shackleton's energy and verve in the middle of the park.

(Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Offering a dynamism that has been sometimes lacking Forshaw's play, the Thorp Arch product came close to firing Leeds into a 2-0 lead during the second half as he forced an excellent save out of Kellie Roos. Forshaw missed the second leg and Bielsa had no qualms in turning to Shackleton, who was one of the best players on a disappointing night, as he showed the work rate and tenacity that fans have come to expect.

Leeds United's have a rich history of nurturing young talent that goes back to the 1960s when the core of Don Revie's great side broke through together as teenagers, and fans at Elland Road will always cheer a homegrown player that little bit louder.

This kind of support is evident by the groundswell of good will towards Shackleton from supporters, with the teen having the kind of approval ratings that Theresa May would die for.

And this support extends well beyond the terraces, with Bielsa explaining just how valued Shackleton is.

"Every time he played, honestly, we saw him," the Leeds head coach explained ahead of the second leg against Derby County.

"There’s a detail that is very important to me, which is how a player is accepted by his team-mates. When all the players accept a new young player it means that they like to have this player on their side.

"When a young player finds his place in a top team in the natural competition you have for the positions, the one who comes inside the team moves someone out of the team.

"That’s why from a team spirit the only way you accept the arrival of a young player is when you make the team better. And for me this happened very clearly with Jamie Shackleton."

These words were echoed by his skipper.

"He's an amazing young man, dead down to earth," Liam Cooper added. "He just wants to come in every day with a smile on his face and work hard. He deserves to be in the team, he deserves to play well because we see how hard he trains every day and I thought he was a different class on Saturday.

"Hopefully for him he'll stay in the team but i know if he doesn't he'll still be the same boy."

While Leeds' campaign ended in a crushing disappointment, Shackleton can take solace in the fact that better days in a Leeds United shirt await him.

His first England call-up has followed, with Paul Simpson naming him in the Under-20 squad for the Toulon tournament, where the teenager will be hoping to continue his late-season momentum and carry it into Marcelo Bielsa's pre-season.

With Bielsa confirming that he will be staying at Leeds United for another year, Shackleton can expect to be a key part of the head coach's core squad next term. A bright future awaits.