Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho believes Luke Shaw can carve a future for himself at Old Trafford but warned the defender it will not be easy.
Shaw, 22, made just his second appearance of the season as a late substitute in United’s 2-0 win against Swansea in the League Cup on Tuesday.
The England defender has been plagued by injuries since a £29million move to the club in 2014 and came under fire from Mourinho last term for his lack of focus.
The left-back has been linked with a move to Spurs and untimely comments this week from Shaw revealed he would like to work under Mauricio Pochettino again.
Mourinho dismissed speculation that he was annoyed by the quotes but says Shaw must earn the right to stay at Old Trafford.
‘Why not? Because of his words. If you want to speak about his words I would be very disappointed if his words were different,’ said Mourinho.
‘I am always disappointed when a player..because he has a new manager, the new manager becomes the best and the old manager becomes very bad, and football is full of examples of lack of character.
‘Luke Shaw was just honest. The manager that helped him to come to the first, to come to the best moment of his career is a manager that do not forget he likes a lot and that maybe one day he would be reunited again so for me the perfect words that show Luke Shaw character in relation to the people that he happy with.
‘He has a future here – I think he has – but the situation is not easy because he comes from injury after injury after injury. He needs two, three, four, five or six matches in a row to play, to make mistakes, to get condition, to get match fitness and I cannot give him that. In this moment I can’t give him that.
‘If he was a midfield player, central midfielder player, then yes, because we only have two left backs we have so many options, so the situation is not easy.’
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