Luke Shaw: Time for United to make huge call on veteran full-back
Luke Shaw: Time for United to make huge call on veteran full-back Eras, a Dutchman in charge of Manchester United once said, come to an end. Erik ten Hag’s tenure at the club ultimately ended in tears, like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s before him and Ruben Amorim’s after. These three managers had little in common beyond the obvious but were linked by a very specific thread, one stretching back to Louis van Gaal via Jose Mourinho.
All five, and the assorted caretakers and interim appointments along the way, were able to draw on Luke Shaw at left-back. The Shaw era Since his high-profile arrival from Southampton, the Englishman has played alongside over 100 players at United and made 318 appearances. It’s a lot, but not as many as you might think over a near-12-year stint at the club.
He has been hit with injuries traumatic and trifling, missing over 200 games in the process (as per transfermarkt ), and this has made him a difficult player to analyse objectively; poor form can often be explained away by ring rust, and there is always a note of sympathy when discussing his flaws. It would be wrong not to acknowledge that his fitness struggles – particularly his dreadful double leg fracture in 2015 – have cruelly curtailed his potential. But it is also a fact that, now aged 30 and United’s longest-serving current player, he has spent a comparatively short time consistently performing at his best.
Historic season That said, Shaw is on course for a career first – an uninterrupted campaign in United red with no games missed through injury. Hairs can be split over the club’s embarrassingly short fixture lists and the impact this has had, but it is nevertheless a small cause for celebration. What’s more, he has mostly been good, or at least a solid presence in a deeply turbulent season.
It could be argued that in fits and bursts he found his best post-leg-break form under Amorim and at times under Michael Carrick . Time to move on Undoubtedly the stars have aligned for him this season, but he has mostly been undroppable through circumstance rather than performances. The loan exit of Harry Amass and the reinvention of, then injury to, Patrick Dorgu has left him as the only left-back in the squad, and he has benefitted from Carrick’s understandable reluctance to stick at all costs to a consistent backline.