Manchester United: Mourinho’s treatment of star echoes past Chelsea mistakes
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has hit out at England international Luke Shaw’s work effort which echoes Chelsea’s De Bruyne mistake/
Jose Mourinho has heavily criticized Manchester United left back Luke Shaw after stating Shaw is a long way behind other United stars.
The manager has questioned Shaw’s work rate and effort in training and has potentially ended Shaw’s future at United.
"‘Luke Shaw? It’s difficult for him to be on the bench because I cannot compare him with Ashley Young, with Darmian, with Blind.‘I cannot compare the way he trains, the way he commits, the focus, the ambition. I cannot compare. He is a long way behind.’"
When asked whether more should be expected from an England international, he replied: ‘Joe Hart is an English international and is playing on loan in Italy.’
This isn’t the first time Mourinho has criticized the 21-year-old after hitting out at Shaw’s performance against Watford earlier in the season.
The way Mourinho has come out in public, shaming Luke Shaw, echoes past mistakes he made at Chelsea.
Mourinho questioned Kevin De Bruyne’s training output when De Bruyne was at Chelsea. It’s been heavily reported that Mourinho sold De Bruyne to Wolfsburg for £18m in 2014 because Mourinho didn’t like De Bruyne’s effort in training.
De Bruyne only made two Premier League starts at Chelsea and was never given a run of games or time to prove himself due to Mourinho’s lack of trust in the Belgian’s work effort.
So what happened next?
De Bruyne scored 10 goals and made 22 assists for Wolfsburg.
He was subsequently named Bundesliga footballer of the year and went to Manchester City for a club record fee of £54.5m in the summer of 2015.
De Bruyne is now one of the best attacking midfielders in the world.
De Bruyne has stated that he thought Mourinho’s treatment of him was unfair which was ultimately the reason he left Chelsea.
"“There was talk that I didn’t train too much, stories I couldn’t defend myself against as the sessions were always behind closed doors.“After his press conference in Bucharest I even started training harder, even on my days off. But my situation never changed. That’s why I asked him in a friendly way: ‘Please let me go.’“Chelsea wanted to loan me out, even wanted me to stay, but I had enough of it. I wanted to leave.”"
The Belgian even said he wanted to have open training sessions to the public at Chelsea to prove that he wasn’t bad at training.
"“That I wasn’t doing what was needed in training. It was easy to say that because there was no-one to check it – the training sessions were closed to the public.“Did I ask for training to be done in public? I said it, yes, but not to him personally.”"
Mourinho’s treatment of De Bruyne mirrors that of his treatment of Luke Shaw. If the player isn’t training effectively then it’s up to the coach to deal with him in a private manner behind closed doors. Naming and shaming them in public like that only has two outcomes.
One: The player (De Bruyne) gets upset and leaves the club vowing to prove them wrong. The player does this, moves for a huge sum to a top team and ultimately embarrasses the manager over their decision (Mourinho).
Two: The player’s confidence is shattered and the few chances they do get to play they will bottle it due to the pressure and lack of confidence. The player (Shaw) ultimately moves to another club (reduced transfer value) vowing to prove them wrong
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Outcome two is currently happening at Manchester United for Luke Shaw. But both outcomes are possible. However, It’s clear the boy’s confidence is at a low and the saying ‘don’t hit a man who’s already down’ applies here.
It seems Shaw has not been given any kind of run of games to prove Mourinho wrong and Shaw will likely not be playing in a United shirt next season.
If Mourinho does want to sell Shaw, he has also unwisely lowered the boy’s reputation and thus his transfer value will have taken a hit.
Clubs around Europe will be well aware of Mourinho’s criticism of Luke Shaw and will know he wants to sell him. Clubs will ultimately offer a significantly less transfer sum than what Manchester United paid Southampton for Shaw at £30m.
So, how does this compare to De Bruyne’s situation?
Well I predict that Manchester United will sell Luke Shaw for a similar price to De Bruyne’s fee for around £18m. Refreshed and eager for a new chance, Luke Shaw will go on determined to prove himself at the new club and will ultimately realize his potential that United paid £30m for. Shaw will go on to join a top club like Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG etc for a huge transfer fee, a world record for a defender.
Now, I’m not a footballing oracle so I can’t promise this will happen but if it does, Manchester United fans will know how Chelsea fans feel about Jose Mourinho letting their own star players such as De Bruyne go.
Next: 5 players United might sell this summer
Mourinho’s destruction of Luke Shaw in public echoes his previous mistakes at Chelsea and it could be his ultimate downfall at Old Trafford.