Much to the surprise of everyone, Luke Shaw has confirmed this week that he may have a Manchester United future after all. Having been on borrowed time for pretty much all of the two years that Jose Mourinho has been at the club, Shaw revealed that the manager has been very supportive and encouraging over the summer.
Given how critical Mourinho has been of Shaw, it is interesting to learn the manager is behaving differently behind the scenes.
Shaw missed out on a place in England’s World Cup squad, with club teammate Ashley Young replacing him. Nobody could have predicted this four years ago when an 18-year-old Shaw was part of Roy Hodgson’s squad for the World Cup in Brazil.
But thanks to injuries and falling out of favour with Mourinho, his career has failed to follow the trajectory that was predicted when United made him the most expensive teenager in world football.
Shaw claims he is now determined to do everything he can to win back his spot in United’s first team, although it would be disingenuous to suggest that we haven’t heard it all before.
He’s hired a fitness coach in the past in response to the criticism, with history repeating itself for the young left-back year after year with little effect.
The original four-year contract he signed would have expired this summer yet United fans have only seen small glimpses into what is capable of doing on the pitch.
In January, United made the decision to trigger the clause that extends his stay for another year, but the general feeling was that the club were giving themselves insurance against him leaving for free, while planning to sell him this summer.
Mourinho likes players who will push through the pain barrier and give everything to the cause. Marcos Rojo is a prime example of this, who was seen eating a banana during United’s Europa League tie against FC Rostov two years ago, just so he could cope with the exhaustion of playing so many games on the bounce during an injury crisis. He arguably paid the ultimate price for his determination to play through anything and missed most of the last season with cruciate ligament damage.
In contrast with Shaw, Mourinho has called him out for not being “brave” enough in the past.
Yet Shaw would probably have a different side of the story to tell. He can hardly be blamed if he doesn’t want to play when he believes he is injured, particularly given his history.
However unjustified Mourinho may be in questioning Shaw’s bravery, another criticism that the left-back may find harder to respond to is Mourinho’s claim that he needs to work harder.
Shaw has given it his best shot this week, though, claiming that he has always taken care of himself.
“I would say I’ve never been out of shape … People can say I’m fat but I know my own body. I always look big because I’m bigger built,” he said.
His fitness has been a source of contention throughout his career, though, long before he played for Mourinho.
After first signing for United, Louis van Gaal deemed that he had returned to training unfit, so initially had him work away from the rest of the squad to build his fitness levels.
Shaw later admitted that he “took it a little bit easy” after returning from Brazil and that he didn’t realise he would have to up his game after swapping Southampton for United. Having signed for Manchester United, it’s more than a little odd that he wouldn’t have been doing everything he could to impress his new teammates and manager upon his arrival.
Hodgson supported this assessment when revealing he had to speak to Shaw on a couple of occasions about his application in training, which is fairly damning. How many other teenagers would need to be told to up their work rate when representing their country in a World Cup?
Hodgson also revealed that Mauricio Pochettino had voiced the same concerns when he managed him at Southampton.
Former Southampton Academy Director, Jason Dodd, confirmed this to be the case
“He’s not one of those who wants to do it for himself,” Dodd claimed. “Lukey is a fantastic player but if you had to question anything then it’s his drive, training every day to give absolutely everything. He can have days when he’s just going through the motions.”
If Shaw has had a lax approach to training since he was a teenager, it’s hard to imagine that now, after numerous chances to prove himself, he is suddenly going to change.
“I’m going to fight for it this year and I want to be in that starting team,” he said this week.
Does he mean it this time? Or will we be having the same conversations about Shaw in a year’s time? There aren’t many players who would be given five-years at United if they had performed and behaved as Shaw has. That is probably testament to the potential the club knows he has.
Shaw claims that away from the public spotlight, Mourinho tells him the reason he is so hard on him is because he knows what he is capable of and he isn’t showing that on the pitch.
But the time for talk is over. Arguably, it was over a few years ago. But Shaw is in last chance saloon once more and this time, more than hollow words will be needed for him to get out of it.