Manchester United great Phil Neville believes Luke Shaw should be embarrassed after Jose Mourinho criticised him.
The 21-year-old left-back was omitted from the Red Devils squad against West Brom on Saturday with Mourinho critical of his commitment to the United cause.
Neville, who graduated from the club’s esteemed academy in the early 90s, feels the defender has a future at Old Trafford and should use the Portuguese tactician’s words as a source of motivation.
“Having played at Manchester United, I think I’d be embarrassed as a player if those accusations were levelled at me in terms of training performances,” he told Sky Sports.
“To play football at Manchester United you need to train at 110 per cent, you need to be determined and focused; the fundamentals of a professional footballer.
“He should be Man United’s left-back; no question with the ability he’s got. Something must be going fundamentally wrong. Ashley Young played left-back on Saturday and, if I was Luke Shaw, I would be thinking ‘I should be playing ahead of Young at left-back’, regardless to how good Young is.
“As a young person in life sometimes you need a kick up the backside and I just wonder whether it’s a tactic from Jose to give him a bit of a jolt to say ‘look, it’s now or never Luke, you’re wasting the opportunity that’s in front of you, other players are ahead of you, you’re fit, training every day, and your attitude needs to be right’.
“It could be just what Luke Shaw needs. Jose has probably got to the point where he probably feels it’s not the last throw of the dice but a kick up the backside.
“If you speak to Manchester United and England fans, they’d say Shaw should be England’s No.1 left-back and Manchester United’s No 1 left-back. He should be a Manchester United full-back over the next 10 years.
“He has got a chance. You’d hope to think he does. I think Jose said it a month ago. You just wonder whether these strong comments are the final effort from Jose to shake Luke into form and realisation.”
Shaw joined United from boyhood club Southampton after representing England at the 2014 World Cup for a reported £32m.
In his first season, under former boss Louis van Gaal, he made 16 league appearances – his most at Old Trafford during a single campaign.
This season Shaw has only made eight appearances with his last coming in United’s draw with Bournemouth last month.
Overall the full-back, who suffered a broken leg early into the 2015/16 season, has played 43 times for United creating two goals in the process.
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