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Manchester United defender Luke Shaw has suffered a fresh setback in his recovery from a calf injury, which has kept him sidelined for months.
Shaw last featured for United in February, during a win against Luton Town. He was included in England’s Euro 2024 squad and played a few matches on their way to the tournament final but picked up another issue just before the start of the new season.
The defender has yet to taste even a single minute of competitive action this term. In his absence, Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui have temporarily filled in at left-back.
Shaw recently made his return to individual training but it appears he is set for a prolonged period on the treatment table after suffering another setback.
Erik ten Hag spoke to reporters before his sacking and said about Shaw, “The process is not going as we expected, that’s the truth.”
“It’s a setback, yes. But we also want to do it [Shaw’s reintegration to the team] carefully, because when he is now dropping again, then we made the wrong process. So we want to be very careful.”
“We know his past. We have to do this right, because we want him to be available because he will have a big impact on our performances and on our levels. We can’t have it that he is playing for some games and then drops out again. So we do it very carefully.”
When asked whether any other injured players are expected back for Wednesday’s clash against Leicester City, the Dutchman replied, “No, I don’t think so.”
On Manuel Ugarte’s struggles to acclimate to life at Old Trafford, Ten Hag remarked, “My midfielders, I have different types. We have the holding midfielders, the box-to-box, the No 10s. Most of the time, we have four midfielders there. We rotate them.”
“Specifically for Manuel Ugarte, most of the times he will be playing in a holding midfield position. What we expect from him is holding, but also linking and building the attack and making the links into attack.”
“And then it is very important he is in the rest defence and defence on.”
United vs. Leicester City kicks off at 19:45 BST.