Erik ten Hag's final comments as manager confirmed injury setback for Man Utd star

Luke Shaw is still not close to returning for after suffering another setback in his recovery from a calf injury.

has endured a miserable injury-ravaged 2024 and has not played for United since February 18. He missed the last three months of the 2023/24 campaign with a torn hamstring but managed to recover in time to play for England at Euro 2024.

He then picked up a calf strain in pre-season, which has frustrated him ever since. It that the 29-year-old defender was edging closer to full fitness, with fellow left-back Tyrell Malacia on the same path.

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But with his absence for United now standing at 254 days, there is further bad news for the club’s fans. In his last press conference before , explained the latest with Shaw. "The process is not going as we expected, that's the truth," Ten Hag admitted.

"The setback – if you want to call it this – but we want to do it very carefully because when he is now dropping again we have made the wrong process. So we want to be very careful. We know his past.

“We have to do this right because we want him to be available because he will have a big impact on our performances and also on our levels. We can't have it that he is playing for some games and then drops out again. So we do it very carefully."

Shaw and Malacia are both long-term absentees and their unavailability caused a headache for Ten Hag before he was sacked. Diogo Dalot has frequently switched from right-back to left-back to cover, while Lisandro Martinez filled in against Fenerbahce and Noussair Mazraoui played there in Ten Hag’s final match against .

Ten Hag has frequently bemoaned United’s injury problems, but that mitigation didn’t prevent United from making him the first manager to be sacked this season.

"Yeah, [the injuries] hold us back in our levels. And also in our position in the league," Ten Hag said last week. "When you don't have the players available you can't line up the best team and that is what's holding us back in this moment and we need more players more often available.

"We have to work all together on this point, players, coaching staff, all the other staff, we have to do better to get more available players. Because we know when we have them we are a really tough team to play and can be really successful, which is what we have shown over the last couple of months."

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