Neil Ashton: Luke Shaw’s relationship with Jose Mourinho slowly improving but now is the time to prove he is one of football’s brightest young stars

Jan 25, 2017

IT has been a long wait for Luke Shaw.

At the KCOM tomorrow there is a chance he will make his first competitive appearance for Manchester United since November 30.

Luke Shaw has been out of the first-team picture at Manchester United since their defeat at Watford but has been injured

The bits in between are a mixture of frustration, loss of form, lack of confidence, along with a series of niggling injuries and short-term illnesses.

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It cannot have been easy watching Matteo Darmian, Daley Blind and even Marcos Rojo move ahead of him in the pecking order at OT.

This week the left back has been heavily involved in training, primed for a return to the first team squad in the EFL Cup semi-final second leg.

Luke Shaw and Jose Mourinho have history going back to when the Portuguese tried to sign the left back for Chelsea

Jose Mourinho has been in the process of slowly assessing his squad at Manchester United

There is even a chance that he could start against Hull.

His relationship with Jose Mourinho, Manchester United’s ruthless manager, is slowly improving.

It has taken them time to find each other out, to gain each other’s trust again after Mourinho nailed him publicly after United’s defeat at Watford in September.

They were beaten 3-1 that day, with Shaw getting a rocket from the Special One when he failed to follow the manager’s instructions.

After that Shaw was all over the shop, struggling to convince Mourinho that he had the mentality to be a Manchester United player.

Mourinho is not the type to forgive, or forget. It has been a long road back, for both of them.

The fear is that their meeting in 2014, when Southampton gave Chelsea permission to meet Shaw and his family are at the root of the problems between the pair.

Luke Shaw had a long-term injury last season when he broke his leg in a clash with PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League

Luke Shaw reportedly negotiated with Chelsea before joining Manchester United

Mourinho was left with the feeling that the player, a Chelsea fan as a kid, was motivated by money.

The Special One wanted to see the fire in his belly, the drive and ambition to cement his reputation as one of the game's brightest young left-backs at Chelsea.

Instead he went to Manchester United and signed a five year contract worth more than £100,000 a week.

Now that Mourinho is finally his manager, they must find a way to make this relationship work.

At Hull tomorrow night, it would be the right time for Shaw to make a fresh start.