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Ahead of Manchester United's season opener against Fulham, club legend Peter Schmeichel has ripped into one of the team's stars ahead of the new Premier League campaign.
Earlier in the week, the club announced that left-back Luke Shaw would be out of action until the next international break with a calf problem. Despite being recognized as Manchester United's standout left-back option for close to a decade now, Shaw has rarely featured for the EPL giants owing to his aggravating injury record.
The 29-year-old hasn't featured in a competitive game for the club since February despite traveling to the Euro 2024 as part of the England squad. The former Southampton player featured for the national side in the quarter-final, semi-final, and final of the competition.
However, Schmeichel has criticized Shaw for not prioritizing his club duties.
“He wasn’t playing in the group phase and I think he came in for the quarter-final, played some of the semi, and then started the final. Now he’s injured again. He is so important because he has experience, he is a top-class left-back. He is a Manchester United player, we pay him. He should be focusing on and prioritizing Manchester United and not his country,” the former Danish goalkeeper stated on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Schmeichel stressed that Shaw is "important" to United's setup and hence, he was eager to see the full-back remain fit for the season.
“If you’re fit and you’ve been playing and all that and go to the Euros, no problem. But he wasn’t. I was so hoping Luke Shaw to be fit for this season because he is so important. I was hoping we could come out with the back of the team the strongest that it could be, to stop conceding goals – easy goals – because that was, for me, a really big problem last season," he added.
“The team is not ready but the league starts” - Erik ten Hag ahead of Manchester United's season opener
Even before the season is underway, Manchester United have had multiple blows to their pre-season with their squad continuously blighted by injuries. New signing Leny Yoro and their first-choice striker Rasmus Hojlund both suffered injuries during the preparation for the upcoming season.
Luke Shaw, as mentioned earlier, is still sidelined and is slated to be in action only after the international break. Meanwhile, Joshua Zirkzee, who was signed in the summer, hasn't broken into the first-team structure till now. Duo Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui, who joined Manchester United in the last week from Bayern Munich, are still settling in at the club.
With all these contentions plaguing the side at the start of the season, ten Hag averred that United are “not ready” for the start of the Premier League season.
"The team is not ready but the league starts. There are more managers who definitely have this problem but we have to make a start. We can't hide from it. We can't run away from it. We have to deal with it," the Dutch tactician said in the pre-match press conference via Sport Bible.
