Millwall signed Jake Cooper from Reading in 2017.
Millwall ace Jake Cooper is having the season of a lifetime at the Den with three goals and six assists in 18 Championship matches – statistics made even more startling considering he is a defender.
The 23-year-old has the same number of assists as Barcelona superstar superstar Lionel Messi, and one more than the world’s most expensive player Neymar who has five assists for Paris Saint-Germain.
Cooper, though, cost Millwall a paltry fee in the region of £400,000 (The Sun) as the Lions snapped him up from Reading in the summer of 2017 after initially joining the club on a six-month loan deal.
The former England U20 international came through the youth ranks at Reading and went on to make 54 appearances for the Royals, but he was generally out of favour under former boss Jaap Stam.
Millwall seized upon the opportunity to bring him to South London on the cheap, and now Reading must regret their decision to let him leave, with the player quickly establishing himself as a top Championship player.
Millwall boss Neil Harris was confident Cooper would become a top player at the club, telling the BBC upon his arrival, but he probably would have been surprised to see the player become such a threat in the final third.
Cooper is a nightmare to defend against at set-pieces, recently recording two assists in the 3-0 win over Ipswich Town while notching the equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Bolton Wanderers last weekend.
Reading have struggled to keep the goals out this season, with their recent 0-0 draw at Wigan Athletic being their first clean sheet in nine league games, while question marks remain over leading defender Liam Moore who put in a transfer request last summer (Sky Sports).
Should Moore leave the Madejski Stadium in the near future, Paul Clement doesn’t have many options in reserve with John O’Shea turning 38 years of age. Meanwhile, Cooper could have been the club’s long-term solution.
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