Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has confirmed that Luke Shaw trained with the squad in the lead-up to the Premier League clash against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
Earlier last week, Ten Hag revealed that Shaw would be available to face Spurs at Old Trafford, but he was not named in the matchday squad for the late afternoon kick-off.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka started instead from the left-back role with Diogo Dalot on the opposite end.
Speaking after the 2-2 draw versus Spurs, Ten Hag said that it was not the first time that Wan-Bissaka had played at left-back. He had few minutes in the role against Wigan Athletic.
The manager added that Shaw was expected to play the game and the team trained with him, but he had to drop out in the morning as he was not fit enough to start.
He told Manutd.com: “It wasn’t the first time, also at Wigan he played there for part of it. We expected Luke Shaw [to play]. We trained with him but this morning he dropped out, not fit enough to start.”
“So to change then back, what we trained, what was our game plan would have been too much so we decided to put Azza on the left and keep Diogo on the right side.”
Shaw has had plenty of injury concerns throughout his career. He is currently coming back from a long-term muscle issue. We are not surprised that he was absent yesterday.
The £33 million-rated star will want to return to the starting line-up when fully fit rather than making an early comeback to suffer another unexpected injury blow.
In our view, the right decision was made against Spurs. With a mini-winter break, the defender has the opportunity to build up his fitness over the coming days.
He could be named in the starting XI when United face either Newport County or Eastleigh in the fourth round of the FA Cup, scheduled to be played on January 28.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
