Former Manchester United full-back Arthur Albiston feels Jose Mourinho is testing Luke Shaw’s mental fortitude with his criticism, but believes the England defender will eventually become a regular at Old Trafford.
Shaw has struggled for fitness and form under Mourinho this season and has not played a Premier League game since October despite regaining fitness over the last month.
The defender has been left out of the squad that will face Saint-Etienne today in France and Mourinho has revealed that he will have to work harder to find a place in his team in the coming weeks and months.
Albiston has urged Shaw to fight for the run of games he needs to showcase his true ability as a Manchester United player and admits that the youngster is going through a sticky period of his career.
The former full-back also feels Mourinho’s criticism of the player earlier in the season was a tad harsh, but believes the Manchester United manager could be testing the player’s mental capacity to handle such pressure at Old Trafford.
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Albiston told MUTV: “Luke Shaw has to fight get in there.
“In my opinion he is probably the best player for that position, but he is nowhere near fit enough. He needs a run of ten straight games, but he has got to hit form to do that.
“Maybe you can argue that he was a little bit unfairly criticised; think it was the Watford away game when he got blamed for one of the goals and I thought it was harsh.
“Maybe the manager is trying to test him as well, giving him a bit of criticism.
“Unfortunately for Luke Shaw it’s a bit of a sticking point in his career for the moment, but I am sure he will get there.
“And once he gets his first team fitness back, he will be a regular for years to come.”
Mourinho also recently said that he has no plans to sell Shaw in the summer despite his lack of opportunities at Old Trafford this season.
