Luke Shaw is set to be offered a new long-term contract at Manchester United after finally impressing and earning the trust of manager Jose Mourinho.
The English full-back has been shown the toughest of loves by Mourinho since the Portuguese took the helm at Old Trafford in July 2016, and some of his public criticism of Shaw worried the youngster’s teammates.
They reportedly worried that Shaw was being treated unfairly by Mourinho, who once claimed that the left-back was playing with “his body, and my brain” after Shaw impressed fans when returning from injury.
With 18 months currently left on his deal, after Man United triggered a one-year contract extension clause, Mourinho is ready to offer Shaw a long-term contract, according to the Mirror.
Now 22, Shaw arrived at the club for a record-breaking £27m, a figure which has quickly been overshadowed in today’s market. He was forced to wait until December, five months into the campaign, for his first start this season in the Premier League, but since the turn of the year, has become a regular in the side, playing in five of United’s seven fixtures.
United had been considering looking for a new permanent left-back in the January transfer window, and have had long-term rumours linking to Danny Rose. It now appears, though, that Shaw has Mourinho’s trust and will have the chance to tie down that spot in United’s first team for the best part of the next deacde if he can continue to improve on his recent performances and find consistency.
It’s been a tough first three-and-a-half seasons for Shaw at United, plagued by injuries, mistreatment and poor attitude at times. He seems to be back on the road to be Unietd and England’s first-choice left-back and one of the best in the world.
There’s a long way to go yet, but this is his best spell at the club since the two months before he suffered a double leg break in 2015 under Louis van Gaal, when he was in sensational form.