Luke Shaw points the finger at Man United and Erik ten Hag after injury against Luton that has left his Euros participation in doubt… as left back admits ‘I shouldn’t have played’

Luke Shaw has revealed he should not have played in the match against Manchester United that caused his ‘avoidable’ hamstring injury, leaving his participation in the 2024 Euros in doubt.

The left-back has not played since February 18 when the issue worsened during a 2-1 win over Luton, a match in which he was asked to play by Erik ten Hag.

Shaw has since suffered a recurrence of the injury, again under United’s watch, as he pushed himself to get fit for the FA Cup final. He still has to train with his England teammates and is unlikely to make it to Sunday’s group opener against Serbia in a week’s time.

And the 28-year-old says mistakes were made in dealing with the original muscle strain.

“I felt something against Aston Villa (February 11) and came off the pitch at half-time,” said Shaw, again looking for the source of the problem.

‘It’s kind of everyone’s fault. Partly my fault, partly medical staff, I think anyone would admit that. I haven’t trained all week. The scan came back and there wasn’t much to see. But I didn’t train all week, then I trained the day before the race. If the manager asks me to play, I will never say no. I shouldn’t have played.’

Shaw, who played just 12 Premier League games last season, added: “We all want to play football. My season has been so frustrating, injury after injury. Maybe sometimes, especially my first hamstring, it could have been avoided. That wasn’t the case, things happen and I have to stay away from that. The most important thing for me now is that I can fully concentrate on getting fit again and helping England win the European Championship.’

Shaw also wanted to explain why he was able to report for England after missing the FA Cup final.

He said: ‘I think people have been confused about what actually happened because nothing was ever said. I had a few people come up to me and say, “How can you not be fit for United but be fit for England?”

“But the circumstances were that I did everything I could to be fit for United, and that has been my whole season really. In my opinion, I was pushing to come back for the games and the finals, and I think I pushed too hard. I came back too quickly and I ended up with another injury in my hamstring three weeks after the final and they said it was a six-week injury so that’s obviously why there was that setback.

The Man United left-back has not played since suffering a hamstring injury against Luton

‘I had done a bit of team training. As you build back up you tend to do a bit of team training to get a feel for it and then you go with the conditioning coach to do different things and try to build your fitness up. While I was there, I actually felt something in my hamstring. I had a scan and it was a six week injury. I was devastated.

‘It’s better for me to come out and say what happened because I think there were a lot of questions about how I could be here and not United. That kind of plays on my mind because I don’t want people to think that’s what I’m doing.’

What chance does he have of making it to next weekend’s match in Gelsenkirchen?

“I would love to make the first game, I can’t lie,” Shaw said. “But I don’t want to get into a situation like that and rush too quickly because realistically I only have one chance. If I feel anything, it’s that and I don’t want that.’

Shaw watched from the stands at Wembley on Friday evening as England were defeated 1-0 by Iceland. It was a poor performance and exposed weaknesses in a patched defense.

Gareth Southgate said as much as he could in the dressing room afterwards, as Shaw said: ‘I think we know that (defensive improvement is needed), it’s clear to see. Gareth made that very clear in the dressing room. I’m not going to repeat what has been said, but we know we have to be better. The mentality needs to improve: attitude, performance, everything.

‘Everyone in the dressing room knows we can be better. This could have happened to us for the best. It made us realize that going to Germany will not be an easy ride. It will be very, very difficult and it will take a lot of determination from the team.”