Last Friday, Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim, holding his first press conference of the summer preseason tour, was asked about the potential of left back Luke Shaw this upcoming season. In his response, Amorim referred to Shaw as “world class” and brought up the fact that Shaw was selected for the England first team in both of the finals that Three Lions have reached this decade (the 2020 and 2024 European Championships).
On Tuesday, Luke Shaw met the media at the Chicago Fire pitch, after participating in a soccer clinic for local youth. His teammates Andre Onana, and Rasmus Hojlund, as well as AFC Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, Ryan Christie, Adam Smith and manager Andoni Iraola, took part in the clinic as well.
Premier League Summer Series FYIs
Manchester United vs AFC Bournemouth
Kickoff: Wed July 30, 8:30pm, CST Soldier Field, Chicago, IL, USA
Preview Material for Both Sides: Starting Lineup Predictions Team News
AFC Bournemouth Summer Series Preview: go here
Shaw’s tremendous contributions to the national team have gone somewhat overlooked, due to how injury prone he’s been, on the club level, these past seasons. Shaw discussed his service to the national team.
“Obviously, I think Ruben’s right,” Shaw responded when asked about Amorim pointing out the defender’s selection for the two Euro finals.
“I think people do forget that I’m always there in the big games. I’m always picked. There must be a reason why I always get picked in these games and the managers always want me to play. I must be doing something right that they see in, day in, day out. Obviously, that’s nice.”
Shaw holds a couple of international accolades. He was the youngest player to appear at the 2014 World Cup tournament in Brazil. Additionally, he scored the fastest goal in a European Championship final, versus Italy in the UEFA Euro 2020 finale (staged in 2021, due to the covid-19 pandemic) with only two minutes having transpired.
Unfortunately, his early goal wasn’t enough to end the England major trophy drought (since 1966 and counting) as the Italians equalized late, and then won the penalty shoot-out. England fell 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final.
Shaw was asked about the pride he feels in playing for the national team.
“It’s a real honor,” the 30-year-old London native responded.
“It’s one I don’t take lightly playing for your country where you’ve been born, where you’ve grown up. Every kid in the country wishes to play for England. I’m getting to live people’s dreams. Of course, I am for United as well but obviously, for England, I was born there.
“It’s a real honor and privilege to play in any game, let alone finals, and to be fighting for the Euros and stuff. It’s just a real privilege to play for your country.”
Shaw also fielded a question about Amorim referring to him as “world class,” and how special it was for his manager to say that, despite the fact he’s only had a limited amount of time to observe his player’s form, given his extensive recent injury history.
“Yeah, obviously, it’s really nice to hear that, especially from the manager,” the longest serving player in the current United squad responded.
“It was quite unexpected to be fair. He (Senior Football Communications Manager at Manchester United George McCaffery) obviously came running and telling me. It’s really nice and it’s a privilege for him to say that. He’s been really good with me. He understands the problems I had last season was really tough.
“It’s something I’ve not experienced to be honest. I know I’ve had a lot of injuries, but it was more mentally how tough it was. I won’t go too much into that.”
Later on in the interview, Luke Shaw did actually go into depth about his injuries, and we covered that in this article here.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter