Since his multi-million pound transfer from the south coast, Luke Shaws’ Manchester United career has been nothing but eventful.
A flourishing spell under Van Gaal, followed by a horrible injury sustained in the Champions League, now, despite being match fit, the flying left back’s Old Trafford future is desperately unclear.
Having already laid into Shaw for his apparent lack of fight in a long-running bit of back and forth, Jose Mourinho gave an unconvincing assessment of the England international when questioned by reporters.
Asked what Shaw has to do to make the bench, Mourinho replied:
“Who? Luke Shaw? It’s difficult for him to be on the bench. Because I cannot compare him with Ashley Young, with (Matteo) Darmian, with (Daley) Blind. “I cannot compare the way he trains, the way he way he commits, the focus, the ambition. “I cannot compare. He is a long way behind.”
When pressed by a reporter that Shaw is in fact an England international, Jose aimed his cross-hairs at Joe Hart when making his point that inclusion the England set-up means approximately diddly-squat in his eyes. Hitting back with:
“Joe Hart is an English international and is playing on loan in Italy.”
Looks like it could be over for Luke Shaw with Jose Mourinho 😢
A long way back into the team from here #MUFC pic.twitter.com/mJGmsnhqps— Full Time DEVILS (@FullTimeDEVILS) April 2, 2017
Sometimes Mourinho throws you under a 🚌 to motivate you. Sometimes he does it because he really wants to throw you under a 🚌 #LukeShawalker pic.twitter.com/AjzqXndm4V
— M•A•J (@UltraSuristic_) April 3, 2017
Signed by the Red Devils for a fee thought to be in the region of £30 million in June 2014, Shaw has managed just 30 apps across all competitions. Perhaps more interestingly, given his ferocious pace and strong crossing attributes, the left-back has only delivered 2 assists and 0 goals in that time.
Partnered with Mourinho’s distinct lack of appreciation of the way the player operates on a day-to-day basis, perhaps it’s in these stats that the Portuguese manager has put his faith in others to fill the left sided defender position.