A broken leg, a healing mind, but a resurgent heart, that is the story of Luke Shaw. One fateful day in 2015, Shaw suffered a double leg fracture in his right leg, in a champions league match that Manchester United lost 2-1.
More than 5 years later, Luke Shaw is arguably one of the, if not the best left back in the league. Take for example his assist against Albania, receiving the ball on the left wing in the 38th minute, Shaw crosses first time, aiming for Harry Kane, and finding him spectacularly, who in turn found the bottom right corner to put England 1-0 up.
But it has not always been like this for Shaw. The last 5 years have had ups and downs, none lower than Mourinho’s public criticism of the English left back in the press, which demoralized Luke Shaw to the extent where his performances warranted him to be dropped from the team for a left winger who was converted into an auxiliary left back in Ashley Young.
But ever since Alex Telles was signed in the summer of 2020, Luke Shaw’s resurgence is clear to see. This season in the premier league, Luke Shaw has 5 assists, but more important than these assists is his willingness to make forward runs, something that was missing in his game during Mourinho’s tenure at United. His partnership with Sir Marcus Rashford down the left wing is built on the foundations of these forward runs, with both left winger and back creating chances and space for one another.
There is no better example of Luke Shaw’s ability than in the recently concluded Manchester derby at the Etihad. With United 1-0 up already, and under pressure, Luke Shaw picks up the ball in his own half, running all the way into City’s box, before playing a 1-2 with Rashford, and finishing the move by placing the ball through the legs of a defender, and into the bottom right corner, scoring only his third ever senior goal, painting Manchester red in the process.
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