Manchester United have today confirmed that Luke Shaw will be unavailable for the opening weeks of the new season with a calf injury. The hope is he will be able to return after the international break, meaning he will certainly miss Premier League games against Fulham, Liverpool and Brighton.
Having skipped United’s pre-season, after joining up with the squad later due to his appearance at the Euros, Shaw won’t only be battling to recover from his injury but for match fitness too. The last game he played in was England’s final against Spain, meaning it will have been at least two months without a match, competitive or otherwise, by the time he is potentially available again.
For many United fans, their patience ran out with Shaw some time ago. Not because they doubt his ability, rather because it becomes tedious relying on a player who every season misses large chunks through injury. While this isn’t his fault, it’s frustrating nevertheless. Is the pay off from his performances worth the loss of the unpredictability of him being fit?
This latest injury may push some supporters over the edge, given he made just 15 appearances for United in all competitions last season, playing his last game in February, only to book his spot on the plane to Germany with England.
At the time, he was defensive of his decision and insisted that it was club over country for him.
I got a few people coming up to me, saying ‘how can you not be fit for United but fit for England?’ No one knew the situation. I was actually very close to returning to team training. I was pushing to try and get back for the games and the final – and I think I pushed too hard. I came back too quickly and ended up getting another injury in my hamstring. It was three weeks from the final and they (the doctors) said it was a six-week injury.
It’s been disappointing for me, but I want to do everything I can, first and foremost, for United. I have always said that the United team comes before everything for me – and that will never change.
While it’s hard to expect any player to pass up on an international tournament if they believe they can contribute, you have to wonder whether there are ever exceptions to this. If you’ve been one of the club’s best paid players for a decade, and you’ve missed the amount of games that Shaw has, would the decent thing have been to take the time off that was needed and then come back for United’s tour ready for the pre-season? Continued his recovery at the pace that was required, take the break, rehabilitate properly and then ease yourself back in to games on tour?
To give the sacrifice I’m asking for some context, in 2023-24, Shaw missed 34 games due to injuries. If you look at his record over the past seven years (which leaves alone the campaign where he had his serious injury against PSV and the season that followed), he’s missed 139 games through injury, an average of 20 games a season.
What use is having ‘the best left-back in the league’ when he misses over a third of your games every campaign? He’s embarking on his 11th season at the club and his story has been the same since day one, when he arrived at Carrington overweight after becoming the most expensive teenager in world football, and going on to make just 16 Premier League appearances because of injury, long before the double leg fracture.
With that in mind, it’s hard to empathise with Shaw after making the decision to prioritise England, something he was happy to admit when in Germany.
There has been a lot of sacrifice and hard work to get in my position – a lot of chats with Gareth and the medical staff. But I wouldn’t change anything. Playing for your country means everything to me. I’m very honoured and privileged to be in this position. So there was no way that, even if I only had a slight chance of playing, I would be sitting on a beach, because I would much rather be here giving everything I can to try to help us win this tournament.
He certainly did give everything, and played the full 90 minutes in the final, but it wasn’t to be for England. While United were in Norway and Edinburgh getting themselves ready for the season ahead, Shaw was in Ibiza with Declan Rice.
So we’ll start another season playing Diogo Dalot out of position at left-back, or taking the gamble on 17-year-old Harry Amass, or seeing if Tyrell Malacia is up to much after missing all of last season with injury.
How many more seasons can we do this for? We can’t adequately replace him in the transfer window, because a world-class left-back would require a world-class salary, and we can’t have two left-backs amongst the top earners. Year after year we’re left keeping our fingers crossed that he won’t be injured, knowing that he will, and therefore spending months of every season with a back-up, or sometimes even back-up for the back-up.
It’s nothing personal. No hard feelings. We can all recognise what a talent he is. We can all see the positive impact he has on Marcus Rashford’s game. We know that he’s unflappable and experienced But he has been a liability for years and it’s unbelievable that we are beginning yet another campaign the way it finished, with an injured Luke Shaw.
Under the guidance of INEOS, there has been a repeated mantra of United now looking for “best in class”. Do the best teams in Europe rely on a crock for a decade just because when he’s not injured he can be great? Of course they don’t. When are United going to cut their losses?
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