Manchester United outcast Luke Shaw is desperate to prove himself to Jose Mourinho... but a clean break may be the only option to save a sliding career

  • Luke Shaw has failed to convince manager Jose Mourinho at Manchester United
  • The defender has failed to make a single Premier League appearance this season
  • Shaw has worked hard to prove himself and is looking fitter than ever before
  • But it may be too little, too late to salvage his career as a Manchester United star

The most damning aspect of Luke Shaw’s continued slide at Manchester United is that the months on end spent watching from afar last season were not the nadir.

Not even the training ground dusting down by Rui Faria for posting a fitness video in a pointed response to Jose Mourinho’s comments about his mindset was.

Not even a dressing-room rebuke for happily chatting with Bournemouth players at half-time of a draw in April was.

Luke Shaw finds himself increasing ostracised at Manchester United this season

Once the world's most expensive teenager, he now lingers in the background at Carrington

Once the world's most expensive teenager, he now lingers in the background at Carrington

Shaw has played just 48 minutes of first-team football this season, all in the Carabao Cup

Sadly, this right now is. Shaw has played 48 minutes of first-team football this term. Forty-five against Burton in the EFL Cup; three against Swansea in the same competition.


He has made the bench in one Premier League match, against Newcastle on November, while Mourinho has relied on the rebirth of Ashley Young as a left back.

Rafa Benitez’s approach for Shaw this week has highlighted that Mourinho could fancy doing business in a January when he needs to raise funds if he wants to sign new faces.

Shaw posted a fitness video in response to Jose Mourinho's criticism in November last year 

Shaw posted a fitness video in response to Jose Mourinho's criticism in November last year 

Newcastle were told United want £20million for a left back they made the fourth most expensive defender in history when paying Southampton £30m three years ago.

United have taken up the one-year option on his contract to protect their asset. In a world of spiralling transfer fees, Mourinho is willing to take a sizeable hit and a young player, still only 22, he has never truly afforded a proper chance.

Shaw has spent plenty of time alone in the Carrington gym, surroundings he became familiar with after the horror leg break away at PSV Eindhoven in 2015.

He has wanted to prove himself to Mourinho, whose messages have always been clear that he expects more hard work. Sources say Shaw looks as lean as he’s ever been right now.

But there comes a point when it all feels fruitless. Shaw has been fit for some time and is still getting nowhere in a team bereft of quality options in his position.

A broken leg suffered against PSV Eindhoven changed the course of a promising career

A broken leg suffered against PSV Eindhoven changed the course of a promising career

A series of niggling injuries have continued to plague his attempts to rekindle his best form

The 22-year-old has been named in just one squad for a Premier League match this season

The 22-year-old has been named in just one squad for a Premier League match this season

SHAW AT MAN UNITED 

Joined: June 2014

Fee: £30million

Premier League starts: 29 (3 subs)

Other apps: 17

Goals/Assists: 0/0

 

2017-18

Premier League starts:

Other apps: 2

Minutes played: 48

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Shaw has kept his counsel throughout this ordeal but is understood to be perplexed at his treatment. Some of United’s players are left wondering exactly why he is the subject of such stern management.

Shaw, who will not be short of suitors, was thought to be confused at being made to play in Under 23 matches earlier in the season when he was fit and available, starting at least one as a centre half.

Yet he did not help himself during a 4-2 defeat at West Ham on October 15 either, which will add fuel to Mourinho’s fire that he ‘cannot compare’ to Young, Matteo Darmian or Daley Blind.

'It's difficult for him to be on the bench,' was Mourinho's assessment earlier this year after the Bournemouth episode. 'Because I cannot compare him with Young, with Darmian, with Blind.

'I cannot compare the way he trains, the way he commits, the focus, the ambition. I cannot compare. He is a long way behind.'

That does not seem to have changed much since. Both sides, Mourinho and Shaw, need a clean break without this cloud hanging over United.

At the heart of it, there remains a desire to finally win over Manchester United boss Mourinho

At the heart of it, there remains a desire to finally win over Manchester United boss Mourinho

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