After yet another season blighted by injury, Shaw must hit ground running

IT WAS nearly five years ago that a former member of staff at United received a video of Luke Shaw being outsprinted by the club’s new fitness coach Charlie Owen.

- SAMUEL LUCKHURST

The clip was filmed from a distance at the WACA in Perth, where United were based for 10 days during their 2019 pre-season tour. The vantage point and angle suggested the footage was captured from the press room where Ole Gunnar Solskjaer held court on a couple of occasions.

Only next door there was a gym used by players deemed unfit to participate in outdoor training. In a camp where Solskjaer was determined to make United fitter than ever, Shaw, recovering from a minor injury, was lagging behind.

Come the end of August, Shaw’s race was run. He sank to the turf in the defeat to Crystal Palace and was sidelined with a hamstring injury for three months. Tomorrow marks three months since Shaw’s last appearance for United after a season-ending injury. Another hamstring injury.

When Shaw’s season ended prematurely in 2016-17, Jose Mourinho did not wait for a scan. “I think Luke Shaw’s must be a big injury because to leave the pitch after nine minutes I am expecting a very big injury.” Shaw was on crutches for the Europa League final.

Mourinho had grown weary with Shaw’s conditioning and questioned his robustness after he and Chris Smalling did not play through the pain barrier in the 3-1 win at Swansea in November 2016. The incumbent United manager Erik ten Hag last week said he would not ‘gamble’ with a player’s fitness. He already has with Shaw.