By the time this article is published, Manchester United will have already played their first pre-season fixture under new manager Jose Mourinho – some 30 miles up north, at the DW stadium in Wigan before the Red Devils travel across the pond to China as part of their pre-season program.
A game that was squeezed into the schedule, per Mourinho’s request, in a bid to know his team as much as he can, before they officially begin their 2016/17 campaign – where they finished last season – in Wembley – for the customary Charity Shield fixture against Premier League Champions Leicester City. For Jose has a ‘group of players waiting for him’ in his words, and whilst there are faces he might not have seen and names he might not be familiar with, there are a few others Jose is well aware of, so much so that he wanted to work with one of those, in his previous club.
Besides all the anticipation, the excitement that fans associate with this fixture at Wigan and the pre-season in general – the added lure when there is a new manager in charge has been palpable at Old Trafford – but apart from the charisma of Ibrahimovic, quality of Mkhitaryan and the potential of Bailly – one player in particular has brought the splendor and optimism back at Manchester United – all things they lacked for most part of the last three years, and that is Luke Shaw.
It all started well for Luke Shaw in a year which was supposed to his – at least according to Louis van Gaal. Van Gaal must have felt vindicated as Luke Shaw sparkled in the early games for Man United – especially in the qualifiers against Club Brugge which even saw Wayne Rooney score a quickfire hat-trick. But then disaster followed as he suffered a horrifying double leg break at Eindhoven when the Reds played and eventually lost a crucial group stage tie against PSV.
It was not coincidence that United struggled pretty much for the rest of the campaign in terms of going forward, being adventurous and creating chances for the forwards – everything Luke Shaw was good at, since the 21-year old’s injury-forced layoff. And now, about 305 days later, the English left-back is back in action and as I mentioned before, will have played his first game in a very long time under Mourinho, against Wigan Athletic in the pre-season friendly.
The full-back recently discussed how hard it was to miss out on a major chunk of last season, which ended on a positive note and miserable European championships that followed in France for England – and why he looks forward for the new campaign under the Portuguese.
In an interview to MUTV, he said,
“It feels really good. I think in the last couple of weeks we’ve been training really hard and everyone’s looking forward to the game [at Wigan], and of course I am as well. I don’t know really how to describe it, it was a really tough last eight or nine months until I got out on the training pitch and ever since then I haven’t looked back.”
On the future he said,
“From now on I’m just going to look forward and carry on doing what I did last year from the start. Everyone helped from the club and from outside the club. My family and friends played a massive part in it. Obviously I have said it before, but here’s a big ‘thank you’ to the staff here who have looked after me really well and have got me back on the pitch.”
This is why the addition of a fully fit Luke Shaw will be a bonus for United; like a new signing. For Mourinho, who wanted to sign the player whilst he was managing Chelsea, then balked at the wage demands of such a young but precociously talented individual. But he now has a chance of managing the player he wanted to at the club he’s always admired from the outside. Things, as they stand, can only get better.
