Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says Luke Shaw has a future there... but he won't guarantee a first-team place: 'The situation is not easy'

• e-mail

Luke Shaw can still have a future at Manchester United but he is not guaranteed first-team opportunities, Jose Mourinho has admitted.

Shaw has played just twice for United this season as a substitute in the Carabao Cup following a foot injury, including an 87th-minute appearance off the bench at Swansea on Tuesday night.

It has put the England defender's relationship with Mourinho under scrutiny once again, and even more so after Shaw praised his former Southampton boss Mauricio Pochettino in the Argentine coach's new book.

Luke Shaw made a rare first-team appearance against Swansea in the Carabao Cup tie

Shaw's contract is due to run out next summer, although United have an option to extend it by another 12 months. 

It has led to renewed speculation that he could be on his way out of Old Trafford with Tottenham – now managed by Pochettino – a possible destination.

Mourinho admitted that it is difficult to give the 22-year-old defender a run in the team to regain his form and fitness when he has so many other left-back options in Daley Blind, Ashley Young and Matteo Darmian.

'He has a future here but the situation is not easy because he comes from injury after injury after injury,' said Mourinho. 

'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.

Boss Jose Mourinho claims he cannot guarantee Shaw regular minutes in the first-team 

He continued: 'If he was a central midfielder then yes, because we only have two [Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera].  

'But at left-back we have so many options, so the situation is not easy. But he is in the squad, he works and maybe the opportunity comes.' 

On Shaw's praise of Pochettino, Mourinho insisted that he was comfortable with the player talking about his old manager in such glowing terms.

'Why not?' he added. 'Because of his words? If you want to speak about his words, I would be very disappointed if his words were different.

The Manchester United manager also said Shaw could still have a future at the club  

He added: '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. Football is full of examples of lack of character.

'Luke Shaw was just honest. The manager that helped him come to the first team, the manager that helped him develop in the best moment of his career, is the manager he doesn't forget.

'A manager he likes a lot, a manager that maybe one day, he would like to be reunited with again. 

'So, for me, the perfect words that show Luke Shaw's character in relation to the people he was happy with.' 

The full-back has struggled to cement a regular position because of a string of injuries