On his Champions League debut in September 2015, Luke Shaw started brightly for Manchester United. Foraging forward at every opportunity, he would get entangled with PSV’s Hector Moreno on one of these runs. What resulted was a double fracture to his right leg. He would not appear in the competition for another two years.
In the Premier League, having started every game of the season up till then, he would not feature again for another 11 months.
The Lost Potential of Luke Shaw Finally Being Fulfilled
Record-Breaker
Shaw has had a very stop-start Manchester United career so far. He arrived at United in 2014 as the most expensive teenager in the world at the time. His transfer record of £30 million from Southampton would only be broken by Kylian Mbappe three summers later.
He started his first season at Old Trafford by missing the first five league games. Shaw would go on to make a mere 16 league and four FA Cup appearances that year, blighted with injuries. In his second season, as aforementioned, Shaw played the full 90 minutes of all of the first five Premier League games before his untimely injury in Eindhoven.
Injuries and Tough Love
The one major injury aside, Shaw has also struggled with criticism about his fitness and apparently being too brittle. He missed another four months of action out injured from November 2015 to February 2016. The following season, Shaw underwent foot surgery, resulting in him missing the latter part of United’s victorious Europa League campaign.
He would eventually return to regular action, form permitting, last season with manager Jose Mourinho describing one particular performance against CSKA Moscow as “very, very good”.
“Some of the guys who do not play regularly, Luke Shaw, especially offensively was very, very good, and made a great contribution to the team,” Mourinho said.
“He managed to stay on for 90 minutes. I told him this is not a test, this is an opportunity to play and prove your level. Honestly, I am happy with his performance,” he added.
Previously, however, Mourinho had publicly criticised Shaw for coming back to pre-season as unfit and with an insufficient work ethic. His United boss was very outspoken about the England international. Mourinho once questioned his “mental attitude” after a mistake against Watford.
“He had a good performance but it was his body with my brain. He was in front of me and I was making every decision for him,” Mourinho once came out and claimed about Shaw.
However, things have dramatically turned around for the former Southampton man as he now seems to have won Mourinho over. After starting in six consecutive games, Mourinho heaped praise on Shaw who was on his best run since August 2016. The Portuguese commented in January this year that he doesn’t “see many left-backs better than Luke Shaw.”
Rejuvenated
Shaw’s defensive presence, positioning and decision-making may still need work. However, his runs down the left, combined with his speed, strength and terrific tackling have gone a long way to winning over his manager as well as fans.
Shaw’s consistent marauding runs down the left are something United fans have been crying out for ever since Patrice Evra. With the right-back spot still up for long-term grabs, fans would be pleased that at least one defensive position seems about to be nailed down for good.
Having been omitted from England’s 2018 World Cup squad, the now 23-year old is a man on a mission. He trained in the heat of Dubai in the summer and has come back hungrier to prove himself. Shaw has already gotten the first ever senior goal of his career this season, as well as winning Manchester United’s Player of the Month award for August. The icing on the cake, however, came in the form of an England recall. The left-back will be in the squad for the upcoming Nations League clash with Spain and friendly against Switzerland.
Bad luck and himself are the only things that can stop Shaw’s career from going up from here on out.
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