Explained: Why ‘Best LB In The World’ Luke Shaw Is Struggling At Old Trafford
Reuters / Phil Noble
Paul Scholes has revealed his thoughts on Luke Shaw, saying the defender still has a bright future ahead of him, but faces several obstacles that he must overcome if he wants to turn his nightmare career at Old Trafford around.
Shaw has endured three frustrating seasons at United since his move to the club in 2014, with injuries and fitness concerns massively halting his progress.
Things finally appeared to be going in the right direction for the Englishman back in 2015, but a double leg break saw him miss the rest of that season, and it was back to square one. He also wasn’t helped by the fact that Louis van Gaal, whose trust he had just won before the injury, was sacked, and Jose Mourinho arrived.
The former Chelsea boss was far from impressed by what he saw from the youngster, and often hit out at his poor work ethic in a number of press conferences. This season as well, Shaw has struggled to find game time, and has been linked with several moves away from the club.
However, the left-back has hinted that he is determined to stay and prove his worth, and he did himself no harm with his marvelous display against CSKA Moscow.
Mourinho himself admitted that he was very impressed by Shaw’s attacking performance, and it all leads up to the question of what exactly is the youngster doing wrong to make his manager distrust him so much?
Scholes admitted that he believes Shaw is not living his life as ‘clean’ as he should, and this could be the reason why:
Gary Lineker posed the question: “Bags of talent, but there must be something, whether it’s the attitude or the mental strength, what do you think Paul?”
To which Scholes replied: “It’s difficult to say, we don’t see what goes on behind the scenes. I think what you hear I don’t think he lives his life as clean as he possibly should. He looks, as Steven [Gerrard] says, his body shape, he looks like a player who needs to be playing every week.
“We had Wayne Rooney, who was a player who if he missed a couple of games, you knew, didn’t you, he’s not looking after himself right, he needs to be playing all the time, Saturday-Monday, Saturday-Tuesday, whatever it may be.
“I think Luke Shaw’s exactly the same. Can he get a run of 10 games in the team? I’m not sure. The problem he’s got is Ashley Young’s done so well at left-wing-back. I hope there’s a future for him, a couple of years ago I thought we were signing possibly the best left-back in the world.”
Manchester United fan, Wayne Rooney is his role model. Passionate writer who has written for several sites in the past. He’s also an aspiring pianist and creates background music for BlameFootball’s Youtube channel.