Every Luke Shaw season at Man Unitd seems to feature a redemptive arc and this one is no different.
Come October, it will have been 10 years since Luke Shaw first played at Old Trafford in an imposing Southampton side that was broken up quicker than it was put together.
The ninth anniversary of Shaw’s move to United is in June and when Phil Jones’s contract is shredded three days later, Shaw will officially be United’s longest-serving outfield player.
He has played under five managers and Sir Alex Ferguson’s heir, David Moyes, initiated the process to sign Shaw before his Easter Monday burial in 2014.
At the time United invested £31million in Shaw, he was seen as a talent with a shelf-life of at least a decade. He seems certain to reach the milestone that merited a testimonial yesteryear. It has been far from plain-sailing.
Now 27, Shaw has added another string to his bow by flourishing in a centre-back partnership with Raphael Varane. He will have known from Louis van Gaal’s asperity that Dutch coaches are sticklers for right and left-footed partnerships and Ten Hag is no different.
Tyler Blackett, subjected to jeers on loan at Birmingham before Van Gaal cast his eye over him, only ever played for United because he was a leftie. When Jones and Daley Blind appeared at the United Adidas kit launch at Texture Bar in the Northern Quarter in 2015, they were positioned where they had played during the pre-season tour. Jones was perhaps so programmed he even sat on the far right when he attended a screening of Spectre at the Great Northern cinema.
Blind was later derided by Ed Woodward as an un-United signing when he had laudable spells in midfield, left-back and centre-back. Although an ever-present next to Chris Smalling when United conceded a meagre 35 goals in the 2015-16 Premier League season, Blind was a more captivating presence at left-back during that sprightly spring of 2015 when United put Tottenham, Liverpool and City to the sword.
At United, Van Gaal confessed: “I normally buy more multi-functional players than specialists.” Ten Hag is the opposite but Shaw’s experience in a defensive trident under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been utilised more proactively. United have hitherto not started in a back three under Ten Hag.
Shaw’s stints at centre-back do not augur well for Harry Maguire, a right-footer usually selected on the left side of defence. Shaw is quicker than Maguire and more mobile in reading the danger.
“Of course, you have your ideas and a plan but sometimes it changes by circumstances like the illnesses for Harry and Victor,” Ten Hag said of Shaw’s selection at centre half. “Normally, they start in the games we have just played, but then Casemiro did well as a centre half (against Burnley) and then Luke Shaw did very well against Nottingham Forest.
“Also, you look at the game plan, the way we had to approach Wolves, and I thought it was the best match with Rapha and Luke. Especially we knew the speed of Wolves from the right side and we could cover that because we wanted to attack over the left side with our offensive game from Tyrell Malacia.”
Shaw was in the right place to slot in with his right foot against Bournemouth, his first United goal since the March 2021 derby and first at Old Trafford in 1,607 days. The move was reminiscent of Shaw’s opener in the Euro 2020 final he started on the left of his own third, advancing into the opponent’s area to finish first time.
Almost every season of Shaw’s United career has had a redemptive arc and this one is no different. Fortunate to start the campaign, he was discarded after three halves, the last with United 4-0 down at Brentford.
Since replacing Tyrell Malacia at Everton on October 9, Shaw has started all 10 league games and he volunteered to start in central defence when Maguire was unwell and Varane and Martinez unavailable for the League Cup tie against Burnley. He has defied the once credible notion he was a better player behind closed doors.
It was apt the broadcasters questioned Shaw on Marcus Rashford’s slumberous morning at Molineux last week. Shaw once overslept and was late for training at Carrington, where he innocently informed Jose Mourinho his mother had also slept in and failed to wake him up.
Mourinho rightly and repeatedly questioned Shaw’s mentality, as did some teammates. Romelu Lukaku was so amused by Shaw being outpaced by a fitness coach at the WACA during pre-season in 2019 he filmed it on his phone.
Now it’s Shaw doing the overtaking.
SOURCE: manchestereveningnews.co.uk
