Manchester United’s Luke Shaw has been left out of the squad that has travelled to France to face Saint-Etienne. The second leg of United’s Europa League last 32 tie against the Ligue 1 side is tomorrow night, but Shaw wasn’t on the plane, along with several of his colleagues, including Wayne Rooney, Matteo Darmian and Phil Jones.
The full squad, as per a post on Manutd.com is as follows:
De Gea, O’Hara, Romero; Bailly, Blind, Fosu-Mensah, Rojo, Smalling, Valencia, Young; Carrick, Fellaini, Mata, Mkhitaryan, Pogba, Lingard, Schweinsteiger; Ibrahimovic, Martial, Rashford.
The absence of Rooney and Jones is not a surprise, with Jose Mourinho stating after Sunday’s 1-2 victory over Blackburn Rovers that neither were likely to make the trip due to recovering from injury. One can also assume that Matteo Darmian is suffering from a strain or knock of some description after the win at Ewood Park.
Shaw’s omission is a little more troubling, especially as he has been such a peripheral figure in Mourinho’s plans during the Portuguese’s first season in charge. Given the England defender has been challenged with forcing his way into United’s starting XI, the fact that he hasn’t troubled to France for a game seen as something of a dead rubber given United’s 3-0 lead in the tie is significant, and it doesn’t bode well for the former Southampton defender.
