 Lakin pictured in October 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Charlie Lakin[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1999-05-08)8 May 1999 (age 26)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Solihull, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3] | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Walsall | ||
| Number | 8 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 200?–2008 | Walsall | ||
| 2008–2017 | Birmingham City | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2017–2021 | Birmingham City | 10 | (0) |
| 2019–2020 | →Stevenage (loan) | 20 | (2) |
| 2020–2021 | →Ross County (loan) | 19 | (3) |
| 2021–2024 | Burton Albion | 29 | (1) |
| 2023 | →Doncaster Rovers (loan) | 10 | (0) |
| 2023–2024 | →AFC Wimbledon (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2024 | →Sutton United (loan) | 21 | (7) |
| 2024– | Walsall | 36 | (2) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 08:39, 17 May 2025 (UTC) | |||
Charlie Lakin (born 8 May 1999) is an English professionalfootballer who plays as amidfielder forEFL League Two clubWalsall.
He joinedBirmingham City as a nine-year-old, went on to make his senior debut for the club in the2017–18 FA Cup, and played ten times in the2018–19 Championship. Despite missing two months with injury, Lakin managed 25 appearanceson loan atLeague Two clubStevenage before the 2019–20 season ended prematurely because of theCOVID-19 pandemic. He spent the 2020–21 season on loan toScottish Premiership clubRoss County, before leaving Birmingham on a permanent basis forBurton Albion in August 2021. He had loan spells atDoncaster Rovers andAFC Wimbledon in 2023 andSutton United in 2024.
Lakin was born inSolihull where he attendedLangley School.[4] He joinedBirmingham City's Academy fromWalsall's under-nine team,[4] and took up a scholarship with the club in July 2015.[5][6] In his first season, he featured regularly for Birmingham's under-18 team.[7] Speaking in January 2017, Academy manager Kristjaan Speakman described Lakin as "a left-sided midfielder [who] has played in a more central position for the Under-18s over the course of this season. He has real box-to-box energy. He can be creative with the ball but also really robust defensively."[8] He finished the season with two goals from 13 appearances in the under-23 team, and signed his first professional contract, of one year, at the end of the 2016–17 season.[4] Lakin was a regular in the under-23s in the2017–18 season, and was one of two players selected to train withUE Cornellà's first team in October 2017 as part of a proposed relationship between Birmingham City and the SpanishSegunda División B (third-tier) club.[9]
His involvement with Birmingham's first team increased, and on 27 January 2018, he was given asquad number and included among thesubstitutes for theFA Cup fourth-round visit toPremier League clubHuddersfield Town.[10] He remained unused as Birmingham drew the match, but made his senior debut in thereplay ten days later. Use of a fourth substitute duringextra time of an FA Cup tie, trialled in the later rounds of the2016–17 edition, was permitted from the first round in2017–18.[11] Lakin became the first Birmingham player to be used under that arrangement when he replacedJason Lowe after 101 minutes with his team already 3–1 down; the match finished as a 4–1 defeat.[12] According to theBirmingham Mail, on his first involvement in the match, "he gathered possession on the edge of his own area, surged through his half and threaded a superb pass toJota which set Blues away on the counter", showing the "sort of technical ability which has made him such a big hit in his first full season at Under 23 level."[13] Two weeks later, Lakin signed a new contract to run until 2020, with a further one-year option in the club's favour.[14]
Lakin made his next appearance in the defeat toReading in the2018–19 EFL Cup, and hisFootball League debut in the next match, replacingGary Gardner towards the end of a goalless draw at home toSwansea City.[15] His first league start came in a goalless draw away toSheffield United on 19 September, partnering Gardner in central midfield; theBirmingham Mail marked him 7.5 out of 10, and said he "gave his first pass away – but that was virtually his last mistake. He was as good without the ball as with it and looks to have given [the manager] another option in the middle."[16] He was a regular in the matchday squad until the turn of the year,[17] when a thigh injury kept him out of consideration until March 2019, during which time the appearance-based one-year extension to his contract was ratified.[18]
Having made one EFL Cup appearance for Birmingham in 2019–20, Lakin joinedEFL League Two clubStevenage on 22 August 2019on loan for the rest of the season.[19] He went straight into the starting eleven for the league visit toMansfield Town two days later, and played the whole 90 minutes as the match ended goalless.[20] A thigh injury suffered during his debut kept him out for two months: he returned to action on 26 October in a 1–0 win at home to fellow strugglersMorecambe.[21] He scored his first senior goal on 18 January 2020 to round off a 4–0 win away toCambridge United.[22][23] He had made 25 appearances in all competitions by the time theLeague Two season was first suspended and then ended early because of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[24][22]
Lakin started in the opening fixture ofBirmingham's 2020–21 season, a 1–0 defeat at home to fourth-tierCambridge United in the EFL Cup.[25] With several midfielders ahead of him in new head coachAitor Karanka's pecking order, he was not included in the squad for any Championship matches, and on 5 October 2020, he joinedScottish Premiership clubRoss County on 5 October 2020 on loan for the season.[26] He made his debut as a second-half substitute in theScottish League Cup away toMontrose, who had been 3–0 down but had just pegged the score back to 3–2. Montrose scored again to take the tie topenalties; Lakin converted Ross County's fifth penalty but Montrose's fifth player missed his, so Ross County took the bonus point.[27]
On 31 August 2021, Lakin signed a three-year deal withLeague One clubBurton Albion.[28] He went straight into the starting eleven, and marked his third appearance, away toCrewe Alexandra, by beingsent off for a secondyellow card.[29] He finished the season with 28 appearances, of which about half were as a starter,[30] but in the first half of the 2022–23 campaign, he played in the cups but only rarely in the league.[31]
In January 2023, he joinedDoncaster Rovers of League Two on loan for the rest of the season.[32]
Lakin joined another League Two club,AFC Wimbledon, on 1 September 2023 on loan until January 2024.[33] He made ten appearances – six in the league and four in the EFL Trophy – before returning to his parent club on 4 January 2024.[34][35]
A week later, he returned to League Two on loan toSutton United until the end of the season.[36] He was a regular in the starting eleven throughout his loan spell, scored eight goals from 21 league appearances,[34] and, according to the club website, "[played] a huge part in keeping our fight against relegation going to the final week of the season."[37] Despite being with Sutton for only halfthe season, his performances earned both Club and Players' Player of the Season awards.[37]
On 25 June 2024, Lakin agreed to re-joinWalsall on a two-year contract, to begin on 1 July after his Burton Albion contract expired.[38] He scored his first goal on 3 September in theEFL Trophy against Birmingham City, his former club; the match ended 1–1, and Walsall won thepenalty shoot-out to secure the extra point.[39][40]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Birmingham City | 2017–18[41] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |
| 2018–19[15] | Championship | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 11 | 0 | ||
| 2019–20[22] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2020–21[42] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2021–22[30] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | |||
| Stevenage (loan) | 2019–20[22] | League Two | 20 | 2 | 2 | 0 | — | 3[c] | 0 | 25 | 2 | |
| Ross County (loan) | 2020–21[42] | Scottish Premiership | 19 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | — | 24 | 4 | |
| Burton Albion | 2021–22[30] | League One | 27 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 1[c] | 1 | 28 | 2 | |
| 2022–23[31] | League One | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4[c] | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| 2023–24[34] | League One | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 29 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 36 | 2 | ||
| Doncaster Rovers (loan) | 2022–23[31] | League Two | 10 | 0 | — | — | — | 10 | 0 | |||
| AFC Wimbledon (loan) | 2023–24[34] | League Two | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4[c] | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| Sutton United (loan) | 2023–24[34] | League Two | 21 | 8 | — | — | — | 21 | 8 | |||
| Walsall | 2024–25[39] | League Two | 36 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8[d] | 2 | 49 | 4 |
| Career total | 151 | 16 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 20 | 3 | 191 | 20 | ||
Individual
I've got really good fitness. I'm energetic all over the pitch, work hard for the team, tackling, passing and try and get goals with every opportunity I have.