Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has backed teammate Luke Shaw after witnessing his hard work in training first hand in the face of adversity.
Shaw has made just 45 appearances in the Red shirt since joining the club back in 2014, struggling to break into the starting XI due to a combination of fitness issues and a fractious relationship with manager Jose Mourinho.
However, this summer the 23-year-old has set about rectifying his current situation and trained harder than ever in pre-season in order to be fully fit for the new season, with several members of the squad missing most of the summer preparations due to World Cup commitments.
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In the Red Devil’s season opener against Leicester City tonight, Shaw put in a solid shift at left-back and managed to grab what turned out to be the winning goal, with a stunning effort that any striker would have been proud of.
Fellow United star Paul Pogba also made his return to club action tonight and was named the captain for the match in a bold statement from Mourinho which emphasised how much he believes in the Frenchman’s abilities.
Utd Xtra on Twitter has posted some of the 25-year-old midfielder’s quotes after the game, as he offered a glowing assessment of Shaw’s qualities as a professional, saying to reporters: “Luke Shaw, I want to say something. He is someone who works very hard in training.
“He looks after himself, people criticise him. He didn’t have a lot of chances to play last season. He deserves respect, he deserves people to be happy for him.”
Pogba’s comments combined with his goal and performance for the team on Friday evening vindicated the Portuguese bosses decision to name him as skipper and he has now put himself top of the list of vice-captains for whenever Antonio Valencia may be unavailable in the future.