There’s more to sport than being good.
Luke Shaw is one of these people who’s blessed with talent and athleticism and, in most of our logical minds, that amounts to an asset.
But there are some things you can’t measure.
You can’t scale how much somebody wants something. You can’t calculate toughness or drive or will. You can’t make assurances for the amount of times someone will stand back up every time the world beats him down – fortitude, you can’t put a metric on it. You also can’t account for luck.
Perhaps Luke Shaw is a product of bad luck. Perhaps, in different circumstances, he would’ve excelled like he was supposed to but these aren’t different circumstances.
He’s had injuries, he’s had fitness issues and maybe he just didn’t have the sheer stubbornness required to bounce back from those.
You could hear it in Mourinho’s voice when he was talking about the Englishman, the disappointment. If the United manager is good at one thing, it’s judging the mentality of his players and, with the attrition United bring to every game, with the battle-mode Mourinho wants from his warriors, softness, weakness isn’t going to cut it with him.
At 22, Luke Shaw is in his fourth season at Manchester United now and he really should be kicking on from the levels he was at when he was just a teenager.
Somewhere along the way though, the man who was earmarked as England’s left back for the next 15 years has fallen behind a 32-year-old at his own club and a whole host of other players at international level.
In fact, Luke Shaw is probably fifth in line now for a slot at left back for United.
- Ashley Young
- Daley Blind
- Matteo Darmian
- Marcos Rojo
- Luke Shaw
The four in front of him, whether you agree or not, are higher up the pecking order in the manager’s mind. Blind’s a gem of a footballer, Darmian’s solid, Rojo might prefer being central but, again, he brings that steel that Shaw hasn’t been showing.
So it’s no real surprise to read The Mirror claiming Mourinho is willing to accept offers of £20m for Luke Shaw.
At 18, he was bought for a fee that was supposed to be close to £30m. Four years on at Manchester United, when he should be older, wiser, physically-improved and learning from the best, his stock has plummeted and, whatever about circumstance, he’ll probably have to have a look at himself for his part to play in that fall.
