Midfield numbers may give Lakin a chance to shine
JOE Powell is with Burton Albion’s training camp in Portugal – but with each passing day, the likelihood of him starting the season with the Brewers appears to diminish.
Powell, out of contract, has been offered a new deal but is the only one of those who were in that position who has still not accepted it.
He is in Portugal because, of course, he remains a Burton player until the end of the month but the odds now appear that he will be looking for a new challenge at 23 and two-and-a-half years after joining the Brewers.
Whether or not there is room yet for more negotiation and a chance that he stays, we will no doubt find out in the next couple of weeks.
But, if he leaves, the midfield situation at the club is intriguing – and I wonder if there could be a bigger role to play for Charlie Lakin in the coming season?
A department which appeared full to bursting – yet a department which never quite fired as it might last season – has been thinned significantly already, especially in terms of attacking midfielders.
Loans ended for Harry Chapman and Jacob Maddox. Tom O’connor left in January. Danny Rowe has been released. If, now, Powell and, possibly, Bryn Morris, who finished last season on loan with Hartlepool United, were to depart too, that would be six midfielders gone.
That still leaves Terry Taylor, Ciaran Gilligan and Lakin as distinct midfielders.
However, the waters are muddied when you come to define the roles of several Burton players. Michael Mancienne, Cameron Borthwickjackson and Conor Shaughnessy were often deployed in midfield last season, leading critics to refer to “too many defenders” on the pitch.
William Kokolo and Tom Hamer were mostly played as wing-backs and winger Jonny Smith has to be considered more a midfielder than a striker. However, what the Brewers are crying out for is a midfielder who really makes them tick, who can dominate, spread play and pop up with goals like Barry Bannan does for Sheffield Wednesday and Wes Hoolahan did for Cambridge United.
I might be sticking my neck out to suggest that Lakin could be that man.
The day he signed him, late on the last day of last summer’s window, August 31, manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink described Lakin as one he could not afford to miss, even though he admitted the squad was already well served in midfield.
Lakin had been with Birmingham
A midfield department which appeared full to bursting has been thinned significantly already
City since he was nine. He had made 16 appearances for the first team and had a loan spell in League Two with Stevenage, scoring twice in 25 matches, although he also had two months out with a thigh injury.
He then had a strong loan spell with Ross County in the Scottish Premiership, making 24 appearances and scoring four goals for them as they avoided relegation.
However, Lakin could not break regularly into Burton’s team last season, nor was he especially lucky. He made 28 appearances in all but only 12 were starts in League One.
He often flattered to deceive. He was one of the brighter performers in a very flat display when Burton lost 2-0 away to Crewe Alexandra in September but was rather unfortunate to be sent off when Crewe’s Scott Kashkett made the most of a challenge near the touchline, knowing his opponent had already been booked.
The knowing smile on Kashnett’s face as Lakin was dismissed infuriated Burton supporters on the same side of the ground.
When he returned, it was to play a strong part in the 2-1 home win over Portsmouth, the game in which Daniel Jebbison scored his first Brewers’ goal.
In December, he supplied a delicious defence-splitting pass to send Kane Hemmings away for a goal
which rocked Rotherham United’s early dominance at the New York Stadium and it was a game Burton could feel a little aggrieved to have lost 3-1.
But as the season went on, Lakin’s appearances became fewer. Powell did well enough to earn his longest run of starts for the club in the last third of the season and Chapman was often ahead of Lakin for one of those other midfield slots, while the Brewers were also playing two wing-backs.
The competition and the formation made forcing a way in difficult – some would suggest often direct tactics gave midfielders less chance to shine, too.
But Lakin is often among those with a big smile in training pictures, often in the thick of things with the group, it appears.
He sees himself as box to box and has a willing approach, distinctive for his rather upright running style.
And, as we have mentioned before, he was given the longest contract of any of the signings in last summer’s splurge, three years.
He must, surely, see 2022-23 as a year in which he can push his claims for a more regular place, with enough players in his position having moved on – and that is whether Powell stays or not.
It will be an important season for Lakin.