Last season, we got used to hearing Luke Shaw publicly criticized, in the extreme, by Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho. Today, the United boss publicly praised the young Englishman, in the extreme. It’s truly remarkable how far Shaw has come during his time at Old Trafford.
Once buried extremely low on the depth chart, he has now started the last five games at left back, and Mourinho says he’s currently playing as well as anyone in the entire world at his position right now.
“You like the transfer market, I can say that in this moment I don’t see many left-backs better than this Luke Shaw,” Mourinho said at his news conference today (video here), playing off the media’s current obsession with the Alexis Sanchez-Henrikh Mkhitaryan swap deal that is currently in the works.
“He is playing very well. He was already improving and playing well when I start playing him after that long spell without minutes,” Mourinho continued.
“I remember the first time, in the Champions League, he was coming step-by-step and now with a good run of matches and continuity also, playing like he did against Everton two days after a previous match, good, solid.”
Wow! Among the best left backs in the world right now? That’s extremely high praise from Mourinho, especially when you consider just how much the Portugese has thrown Luke Shaw under the bus over the past couple years. Shaw, who has seen his commitment, professionalism and conditioning publicly questioned during his United career, recently spoke about the secret to his resurgence.
The defender credits Mourinho, and his current relationship with his boss, as the key to the turnaround.
It’s a very inspiring, uplifting story, but Shaw still faces a battle to stay in the first team.
Ashley Young returns from his three game suspension for the fixture tomorrow at Burnley, so it will be interesting to see what Mourinho does with his selection and rotation at that position tomorrow.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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