Liam Cooper gives his verdict on teammate’s Championship loan move

Millwall have announced the signing of 19-year-old Charlie Cresswell on a season long loan deal from Leeds United. 

The defender has five Premier League appearances to his name so far and has played regularly for Leeds’ youth team in recent years.

The England U21 player is highly rated at Elland Road but isn’t quite ready for regular football in the top flight with the hope being that his spell in the Championship will allow him to prepare for this.

Fellow centre-back and Leeds captain Liam Cooper spent time on loan in the EFL himself when at Hull in the Premier League and believes his younger teammate will benefit from his time away as he told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “For me it was unbelievable.

“Going on loan and playing games. Charlie is an unbelievable player and it will only benefit him, going away and playing men’s football and being seen as one of the starters every week. It’s a totally different mindset. How you prepare each game, how you stay fit. In the Championship, it’s games every two or three days. It’s about keeping yourself mentally in there and getting yourself up for every single game and it’ll only benefit him and in the long run it will only benefit us as a club.”

Not only does the Leeds skipper think this deal will benefit the player, but he also thinks the 19-year-old has plenty to give to Millwall as he said: “He’s an unbelievable lad.

“He’s got a great attitude and I know he’ll go there and deliver, that’s the type of person he is. Playing men’s football is all you ever want as. young lad and he’s going to go do that. He’s got everything to go and be a top player.”

The Verdict:

As Cooper says, this could be a great signing for all parties this summer. Cresswell holds plenty of potential but he