England boss Gareth Southgate has admitted they are not looking to put a timeframe on when Manchester United full-back Luke Shaw will be back from injury after he was ruled out of Thursday’s clash with Denmark.
Southgate opted to take a risk on Shaw, who has been missing with injury since February and had hoped he would be fit to play some part against Denmark on Thursday evening. However, the England boss has confirmed he is not where they had hoped he would be in the recovery process.
He told reporters in Frankfurt: “He’s actually on track for where we thought he would be originally. We were hoping a couple of days ago he might accelerate that bit but he needs a bit more volume work.
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“He didn’t train with the group today because there are days when he needs to do more than the rest of the group and days when he needs to recover when the others are pushing. He is still in and out from the others but operating on his own programme as well.”
During his stint on punditry for the England vs Serbia match for Dutch broadcaster NOS, Ten Hag claimed Shaw would not be back until the knockout stage. Responding to those specific comments, Southgate said: “Luke’s an outstanding players that’s why we took the decision to bring him although he is not played for so long.
“We were hopeful that can be as soon as possible. We don’t want to put timeline on it but he is progressing well.
“Of course the balance he gives, the drives he gives, whoever plays with him down that side he gives a different outlet. At the moment we don’t have him and have to adapt.”
What Southgate did not comment on was Ten Hag’s other comments which were aimed directly at the England boss. United’s manager criticised the ‘vision’ of Southgate and that the Three Lions were too passive.