Steve Nicol says outcast Luke Shaw must leave Man United
And Mourinho insists he has no problems with the defender talking in such glowing terms about Mauricio Pochettino, who managed him at Southampton.
Shaw's words in Pochettino's auotbiography fuelled suggestions that a swap-deal involving him moving to Tottenham and Danny Rose coming to Old Trafford could be on the cards.
But asked if Shaw - who has mad eonly two substitute appearances this season - still had a future at Old Trafford Mourinho said it all depends on Shaw improving his poor record on injuries which have dogged him since his £28m move from Souothampton in 2014.
He said: "Why not? He has a future here 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.
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Luke Shaw's Manchester United career has been troubled by injury
He has a future here 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.
Jose Mourinho
“If he was a central midfielder then yes, because we only have two 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.”
As for Shaw's affection for Pochettino, Mourinho insisted he would be disappointed if Shaw had been derogatory about a manager who had helped him on the road to the top.
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Jose Mourinho says Luke Shaw must maintain his fitness if he is to have a future at Unite
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He added: “If you want to speak about his words [in the book] I would be very disappointed if his words were different, 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 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 again so for me the perfect words that show Luke Shaw’s character in relation to the people he was happy with.”
