lions loanee has ‘burning desire to be the best’

By Alex Jones alexj@southwarknews.co.uk

CharliE CrEsswEll’s marked improvement since the turn of the year has been nothing short of astonishing.

The centre-back had a difficult start to life at Millwall, making numerous mistakes in the early part of the season. Gary Rowett ended up switching from a back five to a 4-2-3-1 in October and the 20-year-old was dropped to the bench and then out of the squad entirely.

It was undoubtedly the nadir of his loan spell to date, as he was limited to a handful of sporadic appearances that then created rumours of a January departure. Championship rivals were linked with moves and had reportedly been in contact with parent club Leeds United, but Cresswell told them he wanted to stay at The Den. He had to be patient, but his time came when Shaun Hutchinson picked up a groin injury at the start of the year. Cresswell was brought into the team as a result and has hardly put a foot wrong, helping him to keep his place in the starting lineup over the club captain, who has since recovered. His centre-back partner, Jake Cooper, put his improvement down to learning from mistakes and adapting to how Millwall prefer to play, but Rowett pointed to his ‘burning desire to be the best’ that he has shown on the training ground and during matches.

“I think he’s improved by learning what it is to be a centre-half in the Championship, which is one of the hardest positions for any young player to manage and master,” the manager told the News “There’s a lot of players that have been in the division for a long time and still will find it a real challenge because it’s such a competitive league.

“With Cressy, what you see is a lad that’s got a real burning desire to be the best, and you see that manifest in the way he trains and acts around the place, as well as his commitment to being away on loan for the season, which I think has been tremendous.

“What you have to do around that is learn very quickly in this division.