Mourinho: Shaw has a lot to learn, injury a pity

Ian Watson
Luke Shaw: May be sold

Jose Mourinho has lamented Luke Shaw’s latest injury, labelling it a “pity” because Man Utd “were on this process of developing him as a player”.

Shaw picked up a knock towards the first half of Wednesday’s 4-1 win over West Ham in the EFL Cup which is set to keep him out of United’s trip to Everton on Sunday.

The left-back has struggled to hold down a place in Mourinho’s XI this season, either due to injury or form and the manager was disappointed to see Shaw miss out on another full 90 minutes in midweek.

“The injury [to Shaw] is a pity,” Mourinho told MUTV.

“We were on this process of developing him as a player – he has a lot to learn and great potential to develop so we were giving him 90 minutes. Not consecutive matches but 90 minutes against Feyenoord then, one week later, 90 minutes against West Ham, but he got this little injury.”

Mourinho has few other injuries to contend with, though centre-backs Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly remain on the sidelines, along with Wayne Rooney, who is suspended for the visit to his former club on Sunday afternoon.

Wayne Rooney: Spokesman defends the player

“In the squad, we are in a very good position with injuries – the two central defenders and Luke is what we have.

“Everybody is doing really well to keep that record good in such a difficult season with so many matches. Hopefully, we progress in the cup competitions and have more cup games to play in the second part of the season.

“Wayne’s absence comes in the sequence of the yellow cards that stopped Ibra playing against Arsenal, the sequence of yellow cards that stopped Marouane Fellaini and Paul Pogba playing against West Ham. But, okay, everybody makes mistakes and no problem.”

READ: Improving United showing why fans should trust Mourinho