Luke Shaw: England’s imposing left-field choice
GUWAHATI: Luke Shaw’s two assists in England’s 4-0 quarter-final thrashing of Ukraine at Euro 2020 on Saturday night capped a remarkable turnaround in the career of the Manchester United full-back. That his sublime performance came at the Stadio Olimpico, the home ground of AS Roma, didn’t escape the notice of many football fans. A day earlier, Roma had unveiled their new manager Jose Mourinho, Shaw’s former antagonist.
Shaw’s turnaround has been some story. When United signed Brazilian left-back Alex Telles from Porto in the summer of 2020, it seemed like the Englishman’s days at Old Trafford were numbered. Telles was arriving at United with a burgeoning reputation as one of the best attacking left-backs in the world—he had 11 goals and eight assists in 31 league games in his final league campaign with Porto.
Shaw, who signed for United as a 19-year-old for a fee of £30 million in 2014, had been through many highs and lows at Manchester. After showing promise early on, a double leg fracture in 2015 saw his career stall. After Mourinho took over as United manager in 2016, things went from bad to worse.
It was no secret that Mourinho was not fond of the former Southampton full-back during his turbulent time at Old Trafford. The Portuguese manager criticised Shaw publicly on many occasions but his harshest comments perhaps came after he came off the bench to earn a late penalty for United and help them salvage a point in a league game against Everton in April 2017.
Despite Shaw’s match-saving performance, Mourinho went to the extent of questioning Shaw’s intelligence. “He had a good performance but it was his body with my brain,” Mourinho told reporters. “Because he was in front of me and I was making every decision for him. We need at this level the fantastic body he has to play football, the fantastic physical qualities he has, the very good technical ability he has—but he cannot play with my understanding of the game.”
When it was time for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Shaw didn’t make the cut for England, having seen his role at United reduced to playing second fiddle to the much older Ashley Young. But confidence is a huge factor in football; and Shaw seems to have regained oodles of that under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at United.
