Luke Shaw and Jose Mourinho embrace at Old Trafford.

'There are few better left-backs than Luke Shaw'

Friday 19 January 2018 16:19

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes Luke Shaw has taken great strides forward in recent months, stating there are few better left-backs in football.

The 22-year-old has been a consistent performer of late, starting the Reds’ last five matches and featuring in eight of the last 11 games in all competitions.

Ashley Young is available for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Burnley after serving a three-game suspension and the boss faces a tough decision over who to play in the position at Turf Moor., as he feels the in-form Shaw has played “very well” during his string of starts.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference at the Aon Training Complex on Friday, Mourinho said of Shaw: “Luke has done very well. He was already improving and playing well when I started playing him after that long spell without minutes.

“I remember the first time he played in the Champions League [against CSKA Moscow] he was coming step by step and now, with a good run of matches and also with continuity and playing like he did, for example against Everton two days after a previous match against Southampton.

“He was good, solid, physically much better, mentally much stronger, tactically understanding much better the game and what we need from him in the different phases and circumstances. I'm really happy. You like the transfer market and I can say in this moment, I don’t see many left-backs better than Luke Shaw.”  

MUTV will show exclusive build-up to Saturday’s game against Burnley on Match Day from 13:15 GMT.
Luke Shaw praised by a United great Video

Luke Shaw praised by a United great

One of the finest full-backs in United history has offered his advice for Luke Shaw...

As a guest on The Paddy Crerand Show this week, United legend Denis Irwin offered words of praise for Shaw following his run of impressive performances. 

"Luke has been invovled in the last five games and you can see that his confidence is growing," said the Irishman. "There is no doubt, and people close to him tell me, that he has all of the attributes to make a modern full-back. 

"We saw on Monday night against Stoke that he was very much on the ball, carrying it forward and he was a huge threat in the second half. 

"His confidence must be up and he just needs to keep going, keep improving, keep running as hard as possible, keeping attacking and, above all, keep defending. He will see where that brings him. It's as simple as that."

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