Luke Shaw’s double leg break is one of the worst injuries I have seen in years. He was starting to look like the player we all knew he could become at Southampton. He had cemented that left-back spot for Manchester United and also England, with Leighton Baines still out injured for a while.
It is devastating for him. The tackle wasn’t horrendous. If he hadn’t have been injured, nobody would have mentioned it again.
It was a freak accident that leaves Luke at the start of a very long journey back to playing regularly. Recovering from a serious injury is the hardest thing a player has to go through in his career.
He’ll come into the club every day, often on his own, working away from the rest of the group. It is very difficult to keep their spirits up as a manager.
There isn’t much you can do as a manager because their rehab is in the hands of the medical people. Once he starts making some progress, you can give him a week off to go away with his family but quite often they want to keep working hard just to get fit again.
He’ll get the best medical treatment and he’s only 20 so he has time to come back to his very best. I know people are talking about him coming back for the Euros but he shouldn’t rush it. He’s got to make sure he is right for the next 10 years.
There will be plenty more tournaments for him and as hard as it is to contemplate now, pushing himself to make Euro 2016 could be a mistake.
