BREAKING POINT
Shaw in despair as Jose turns on him again. It’s. . .
NOTHING sums up Jose Mourinho’s contradictory — and often controversial — management of Manchester United better than the case of Luke Shaw. The England defender appears to be in limbo at Old Trafford, stung by Mourinho’s decision to replace him at half-time against Brighton at the weekend and then criticise him in public once again.
‘I was not happy with his performance,’ said Mourinho. ‘I had to change one full back and I chose Luke because at least Antonio (Valencia) defensively was capable of some good positionings.’
Mourinho is frustrated that he cannot get more out of Shaw, a player once talked about as one of the brightest prospects in the English game.
Tough love? People close to Shaw believe he would respond better to a softer approach and have been infuriated by what they claim is tantamount to bullying.
‘Mourinho’s treatment of Luke is an absolute disgrace,’ said one source close to him yesterday.
‘If he has a problem with him the decent thing to do would be to keep it in-house. If this kind of abuse happened in any other workplace there would be a case for constructive dismissal. It’s disgusting.’
Shaw’s friends have talked about him enduring ‘moments of despair’ this season as his relationship with Mourinho has broken down.
The boyhood Chelsea fan grew up idolising the Portuguese coach, they say, and cannot understand why this has happened.
Shaw feels he has been unfairly singled out despite doing all he can to please his manager, and blames Mourinho for losing his place in the England squad only three months before the World Cup.
Chelsea are likely to be at the front of a queue if the 22- year- old ends up leaving Old Trafford this summer. Manchester City, Arsenal, Everton and Tottenham would also be interested.
Shaw has the option to see out the remaining year of his £70,000-a-week contract, which would enable him to leave as a free agent or see if a manager who has never stayed at a club for more than three full seasons will still be at United.
The situation is all the more strange because as recently as Christmas, senior figures at the club dismissed suggestions Shaw could be sold and talked about him being United’s left back for years to come.
In January, he played five games back to back, the most appearances in a row since he suffered an horrific double fracture of his right leg against PSV Eindhoven in September 2015 when Louis van Gaal was United manager.
On the eve of the next match at Burnley, Mourinho spoke glowingly about Shaw. ‘I can say that in this moment I don’t see many left backs better than this Luke Shaw,’ he said and then promptly dropped him to the bench at Turf Moor as Ashley Young returned from suspension.
It is this kind of treatment that has upset Shaw and left him wondering what he has done to upset Mourinho.
Some say it dates back to his decision to turn down Mourinho’s Chelsea to sign for United in a £31million deal when he left Southampton in 2014.
Mourinho could handle being rejected but suspected that Shaw’s decision was driven by money. ‘If we pay to a 19-year-old boy what we were being asked for, for Luke Shaw, we are dead,’ he said at the time.
When he took over at United two years later, Mourinho identified Shaw as a young man who had been given too much too soon and therefore lacked the hunger and discipline to be a top player. United staff were warned by Southampton to monitor Shaw’s liking for fast food and fizzy drinks and Van Gaal admitted the player was not fit enough after he signed for United.
However, it is only since Mourinho’s arrival that his United career has taken a serious downturn. Mourinho blamed Shaw for one of the goals in a defeat by Watford last season and then questioned his reasons for missing another game against Swansea. When the player responded by posting a video of himself going through a fitness workout on his day off, he was disciplined by Mourinho’s No 2 Rui Faria.
Shaw played only twice in nearly four months between late November and March, then earned another rebuke from Mourinho for chatting to Bournemouth players after a bad-tempered encounter on his return to action.
United travelled to Rostov in the next game but Shaw was left behind, having been seen at Carrington hurriedly organising a photo for his visa in the belief that he was going. He was left out of the squad to face West Brom, with Mourinho telling the media that Shaw was ‘ a long way behind’ the likes of Young, Daley Blind and Matteo Darmian in ‘ the way he trains, the way he commits, the focus, the ambition’.
He sought clear-the-air talks in the manager’s office and it seemed to pay off. Shaw was recalled and had re-established himself as United’s first-choice left back when his season was ended by a foot injury against Swansea.
‘To leave the pitch after 10 minutes, I am expecting a very big injury,’ said Mourinho with a touch of sarcasm. Shaw was still on crutches when United played in the Europa League final in Stockholm nearly a month later.
He returned to action for the Under 23s in August and played for the junior side again the following month after being surprised by a late call- up and the news that he would be lining up at centre back.
This season, Shaw has made only 12 starts and slipped further out of sight as he has struggled to give Mourinho what he wants.
Explaining his reasons for substituting him at half- time against Brighton, Mourinho said that too many crosses were coming in from Shaw’s side of the pitch.
A similar thing happened on his previous start at Huddersfield last month and it is fair to say that he has not always made the most of his opportunities.
So does Shaw have a future at Manchester United?
‘I still believe he could be the best in the world,’ said Old Trafford favourite Paul Scholes.
‘But sometimes managers get in their head that a player is not for them.
‘ It’s a relationship that, come the summer, will end.’