Luke Shaw has credited Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for helping him play the best football of his career amid a standout campaign for Manchester United.
The full-back has been one of the best players in Solskjaer’s squad and has turned his Old Trafford career around after being cast aside by Jose Mourinho.
United are in Europa League semi-final action against Roma on Thursday night with Shaw a certain starter but, the last time they lifted the trophy in 2017, the 25-year-old didn’t even get a place in the squad. He was injured for the final showdown against Ajax, but was also overlooked for the three other finals United have played since he signed.
What was said?
Shaw credited Solskjaer for helping him develop and spoke about what has changed in the last few years to aid his form.
“A lot of things. One of them is the manager - and I'm not just saying that as he’s sat next to me,” Shaw replied. “Myself as well, I've changed a lot of things and I believe in myself more and I feel a lot more confident the most important thing is I am just enjoying playing football again and that is important thing to have for our job, you need to enjoy it and I’m doing that.
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“The team is going in right direction and I want to be part of it so I need to keep high performances up to keep myself in the team because there is competition all over the squad and I want to keep improving and get getting better and keep helping the team to push to get trophies.”
What else did Shaw say?
The full-back agreed that he is currently playing the best football of his career.
“Yeah definitely,” Shaw said. “The season I won player of the year you could have picked anyone out of the hat, I don’t think there was a standout person that season.
"I think this season is my best and I’m enjoying it and I need to keep working hard and keep improving and I feel like I can keep getting better and give more to the team and I need to be doing that and keep going and keep my head down and what will come, will come.”
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Solskjaer would not reveal who would start in goal out of David de Gea and Dean Henderson. Marcus Rashford is also fit to play despite playing through a foot injury.
Solskjaer said: “Marcus, we’ve managed him and we’ve had to manage him quite a while actually. Last year with his back, then his shoulder that he’s recovered really well from and I feel he’s gone through the worst of his foot as well and he almost played a full game against Leeds.
“He’s available for selection tomorrow and I think he’s happy with the progress he’s made. We didn’t lose anyone after the Leeds game, which is great preparation for us because it was a high intensity, very difficult game.”