Arsenal loanee Charles Sagoe Jr. has had to wait a while for his first league start in senior football, but he finally got it on Saturday.
Arsenal academy forward Charles Sagoe Jr. was lucky enough to make his first ever competitive senior start for the Gunners, appearing in the 1-0 League Cup win over Brentford just under a year ago.
Yet despite that start under Mikel Arteta, the winger has had a difficult time making senior lineups since then.
Sagoe Jr. went out on loan to Swansea City for the second half of last season, making a couple of substitute appearances for the side in February.
But the 20-year-old evidently fell out of favour after that, dropping out of the squad in early March and never returning to it.
The hope was that this season’s loan to League One Shrewsbury Town would go better, and Sagoe Jr. did get his first loan starts in the EFL Trophy and League Cup last month. But four League One matches passed with three substitute appearances and no starts.
That changed on Saturday, as Sagoe Jr. made the starting lineup for a League One match against Charlton. He played 73 minutes of the contest before coming off for Tom Bloxham, and was perhaps harshly denied a penalty in the first half.
Shrewsbury ended up losing the match 1-0, which is very much in keeping with their other results so far this season. The team have lost six of their seven games in all competitions so far.
But on a personal level, Sagoe Jr. will hope to get more consistent minutes with the team from now on.
Shrewsbury are next in action away to Mansfield Town on Saturday, September 21st at 15:00 BST.