Manchester United star must save his career by Christmas
Manchester United may sell Luke Shaw in January
Luke Shaw arrived at Manchester United with massive expectations after a tremendous spell for Southampton. Now the talented English left back only has a few months left to salvage his career at the club.
Reports from England claim that manager Jose Mourinho wants to decide Shaw’s fate before Christmas. The club do not want to allow him to enter the last year of his contract without a new deal in place. Mourinho is undecided about whether or not he wants that new deal to be at his club or some other Premier League club.
The good news for Shaw, is that he is close to returning to full fitness. Club officials expect him to play his third U23 match of the season on Friday against Arsenal and after that, he should be cleared for a return to the first team. That’s where the real fight will begin for the injury-prone left back.
Once he’s back in first team training he’ll need to prove his worth to Mourinho. The Special One was very critical of Shaw’s play, fitness and mental approach last season. It’s difficult to see him working his way back into good favour so quickly.
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On the other hand, Juan Mata was once engaged in an epic feud with Mourinho. Many pundits, myself included, believed the Spaniard would be sold immediately once Mourinho took over at United. To the credit of both men, they’ve put their differences aside and now Mata is firmly entrenched in Mourinho’s starting XI.
Mata had a much longer track record of successful football than Shaw’s been able to produce. He was brilliant as a starlet for Southampton, but it’s not as if he dominated Premier League play for years. His ascent to stardom was mercurial.
That’s going to put Shaw under a ton of pressure to play his best football sooner, rather than later. If he wants to earn a new deal at United he’ll need to force his way back into the team almost immediately. That’s the only way he can accrue enough match time to really convince Mourinho he’s the club’s left back of the future.
Next: Mourinho won't commit future to United
The silver lining for Shaw is that even if things don’t work out at United, quite a few Premier League clubs will be happy to hand him a lifeline. He isn’t fighting for his Premier League future, just his ability to flourish at Manchester United.