Luke Shaw questions Manchester United and Ten Hag after injuries

Luke Shaw says mistakes were made regarding his fitness levels last season and has questioned the approach taken by Manchester United’s medical staff and manager Erik ten Hag.

Shaw has been included in England’s Euro 2024 squad but faces a race against time to be fit for next Sunday’s opener against Serbia due to a thigh injury sustained in February.

The 28-year-old says he was asked to play at Luton Town a week after coming on at half-time against Aston Villa, but broke down again and has not played since.

He said: “It’s kind of everybody’s fault. Partly my fault, partly the medical staff, I think everyone would admit that.

“I haven’t trained all week. The scan came back and there wasn’t much there. But I didn’t train all week, then I trained the day before the game. If the manager asks me to play, I will never say no. I shouldn’t have played.”

United frustrations

Shaw managed just 12 Premier League starts last season but still heads into the Euros as England’s only specialist left-back.

He added: “We all want to play football. My season was so frustrating, injury after injury. Maybe sometimes, especially my first hamstring, it could have been avoided.

“It wasn’t the case, things happen and I just have to move on from it. The most important thing for me now is to fully focus on recharging myself and helping England win the Euros.

“I would love to do the first game, I can’t lie. But I don’t want to be in one of them and rush too fast because realistically I only get one chance. If I feel something, then that’s it, and I don’t want that to happen.”

How can it be suitable for England?

Shaw missed the FA Cup final win over Manchester City but was still selected by Gareth Southgate for the Germany tour, with some United fans questioning his commitment to his club – a point the former Southampton defender he wanted to approach him.

He said: “I think people were confused about what actually happened because nothing was ever said. I’ve had a few people come up to me and say, ‘How can you not be fit for United but fit for England?’

“But the circumstances have been that I’ve pushed to do everything I can to be fit for United and that’s been my whole season, really. In my opinion, I pushed myself to try to come back for the games and the final and I think I pushed too hard.

“I came back too soon and actually ended up with another hamstring injury which was three weeks out from the final and they said it was a six-week injury so obviously that’s why there was that failure.

“We did a bit of team training. When you’re building up again, you tend to go to a bit of team training just to get a feel for it and then go with the conditioning coach to do different things and try to build your fitness. Actually, when I was there, I felt something in my hamstrings. I had a scan and it was a six week injury. I was devastated.

“It’s better for me to come out and say what happened because I think there were a lot of questions about how I could be here and not United. That played on my mind a little bit, because I don’t want people to think that’s what I’m doing.”

How to watch England at the Euros

Read our article on how to attend every England match here and see which matches are on BBC or ITV.