Southampton: Hesketh wants permanent starting role at Burton
By Marc Walker
Southampton loanee Jake Hesketh is hungry for more game-time after managing to break into the starting 11 at current loan club Burton Albion.
The 22-year-old has made a good impression in the Brewers’ team of late and has made five starts for Nigel Clough’s side so far after joining from Southampton until January.
He was one of many Saints academy prospects to move out on-loan in the summer due to a lack of first-team opportunities and he seems determined to take his chance in League One.
Speaking to Derbyshire Live, he said:
"“I couldn’t have come ever come here expecting to play, I knew I’d have to work hard and try to force my way into the team.“Whether that be in the cups or through an injury, however I was going to get an opportunity, I was just waiting for that, working hard towards that then when it came, wanting to take it well as I could.“Now that I’ve had a little run, that’s all I want to do from now on. I don’t want to be in and out, I want to try and stay in the team.”"
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Hesketh was joined by fellow Saint Jake Flannigan in Derbyshire after he also moved to Burton on-loan. Things haven’t gone quite so well for him though and he has just one appearance to his name so far.
Other youth products on the fringes of Mark Hughes’ first-team such as Sam McQueen, Harrison Reed and Josh Sims have also found more regular football away from St Mary’s.
They all joined Championship clubs in Middlesbrough, Blackburn Rovers and Reading and are also starting to see the benefits of regular and competitive men’s football.
Like all three of them, Hesketh has made appearances for the Saints first-team. He broke into Ronald Koeman’s side back in the 2014-15 season and looked to be impressing before a bad injury halted his progress.
With this in mind, the attacking-midfielder is grateful for the current opportunities he is getting at the Pirelli Stadium:
"“I think every young player wants to play in the Premier League and wants to play in the best league you possibly can.“At this stage in my career, I needed to play senior football. Obviously when this came up, it was something I wanted to take.“At the moment, it’s until January, but we’ll see whatever happens come then. At the moment, I just want to play as much football as I can and help this team push up to where it should be in the league.”"
Burton currently sit in 15th position in League One and have claimed four wins from their first 12 games. This is their first season back in the third-tier after they were relegated from the Championship in 2017/18.
Hesketh will be hoping to help fire them up the table and will certainly be wanting to contribute more in terms of goals and assists.
In his eight appearances so far, he has failed to score or set-up a goal for a teammate even though he has been given relatively little time to bed into his more recent starting role.