Pranav Nair
Rio Ferdinand slams Jose Mourinho for constantly being critical of Manchester United star Luke Shaw
Speaking on the FIVE YouTube Channel on Youtube, Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has come to the defence of Luke Shaw, who appears to draw constant criticism from Jose Mourinho.
The 25-year-old struggled under the former manager during his two-and-a-half-year spell at Old Trafford. He has since rebuilt his career under the more personal man-management style of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Shaw was amongst our best players last season and is with the England squad at the Euros.
Shaw also won his club’s player of the season award 12 months ago, a deserved accolade for his improvement. Ferdinand is baffled by Mourinho’s constant criticisms of a player who he believes is in the form of his life.
“It feels a bit personal to me.”
“I love Mourinho. He’s a manager I would have loved to play for. But leave the kid alone.”
It would be a far shot to even call Shaw’s spell under Mourinho as acceptable. However, both sides will have to take accountability for it. Neither was Mourinho able to coax the best out of him nor was the defender able to prove his manager wrong.
While Ferdinand acknowledges the shared responsibility, he is keen for the Portuguese tactician to let bygones be bygones. After all, the flak he picked up in the past, Shaw’s transformation deserves equal praise.
“You messed up his career. He would argue Luke Shaw messed up his career. He has to take some responsibility (Luke Shaw) for this period as well, where he didn’t do well under Mourinho..”
As bitter as a gourd
Mourinho is not someone who forgets and he usually brings up Shaw’s name, mostly in an uncomplimentary capacity. The same could be seen after the win over the Czech Republic where Mourinho called out Shaw for his poor delivery on set-pieces.
“But leave the kid alone, you’re talking about him taking corners. Please, there’s more to talk about than Luke Shaw taking corners.”
Ferdinand perhaps hit the nail on the head when he claimed that Jose’s bitterness could stem from the fact that Shaw’s resurgence shows him up. There is however little argument that Shaw has done better under Solskjaer than his predecessor.
“I think Jose, you can tell there’s a bit of bitterness about it. Luke doing well doesn’t reflect well on Jose Mourinho. That’s the problem and where the bitterness probably stems from.”
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Mourinho is welcome to make assumptions or declarations as he sees fit. However, it does appear to be more personal when it comes to Shaw. It is time he left it behind him and focussed more on the job at Roma. The fallout was a lesson to both the player and the manager. While Shaw has gotten over it, Mourinho is still stuck in the past.
