Luke Shaw To Jose Mourinho ‘Why Are You Always Picking On Me ?’

Luke Shaw challenged Jose Mourinho over the way Manchester United’s manager was treating him during a heated dressing-room row at Old Trafford, Sportsmail can reveal.

An angry Shaw reacted to Mourinho’s decision to replace him at half-time in the FA Cup win over Brighton a fortnight ago by saying: ‘Why are you always picking on me?’

Mourinho responded by telling Shaw that he was not defending well enough and Brighton were having too much freedom down United’s left flank.

The exchange could be heard outside the home dressing-room as both Shaw and Mourinho raised their voices before second-half substitute Ashley Young came on for his team-mate.

Shaw feels that he has been singled out unfairly by Mourinho, and sources close to him have spoken of the left back’s ‘moments of despair’ this season.

It was the second time in under a fortnight that the two men had clashed. Shaw sought assurances over his first-team opportunities after United’s 3-2 comeback win at Crystal Palace when he came on as a 67th-minute substitute.

The 22-year-old was worried about his place in the England squad with just three months to go until the World Cup in Russia, and his fears were confirmed a week later when he was left out of the internationals against Holland and Italy.

The meeting at Carrington did not go well as Mourinho rounded angrily on Shaw.

The United manager is known to be frustrated that the player has not taken instructions on board, and believes he must concentrate first and foremost on defending.

Shaw was subsequently an unused substitute in the win over Liverpool and then left out of the squad altogether for the Champions League defeat by Sevilla. He then suffered the indignity of being replaced at half-time against Brighton.

Mourinho’s public criticism of Shaw after that game has cast fresh doubt over the player’s future at Old Trafford with just over a year left on his £70,000-a-week contract.

United have been linked with a number of left backs including Tottenham’s Danny Rose, Ryan Sessegnon of Fulham, Juventus defender Alex Sandro and Celtic’s Kieran Tierney.

The fall-out between Mourinho and Shaw is another example of the Portuguese coach getting tough with his players in recent months, particularly those he feels are not focusing on their job in the team.

Record signing Paul Pogba has paid the price for a touchline exchange with Mourinho at Tottenham at the end of January, starting just three of United’s nine games since then.

LUKE SHAW’S CALAMITOUS SPELL AT MANCHESTER UNITED

June 2014 – Becomes English football’s most expensive teenager when he joins United for £31.5million from Southampton

July 2014 – Forced to train alone by manager Louis van Gaal after turning up to pre-season ‘not fit enough’ to meet his demands

2014-15 season – Suffers a string of injury problems that rule him out for over three months of his debut season at Old Trafford

September 2015 – Defender is ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a horrific double broken leg in a Champions League clash with PSV

2016-17 season – Injuries rule him out for another three months of action, reducing him to just nine league starts in Mourinho’s first season in charge

September 18, 2016 – Shaw is blamed by his manager for one of the goals as United are beaten at 3-1 Watford

November 7, 2016 – Mourinho blasts players for not playing through the pain-barrier hours after Shaw declared himself unfit to face Swansea

March 4, 2017 – Shaw is given another dressing down by his boss for talking to Bournemouth players during their 1-1 draw

April 3, 2017 – United boss says Shaw is ‘way behind’ in the pecking-order and his commitment and training and ambition cannot be compared to United’s other left-back options

April 30, 2017 – Shaw suffers ligament damage to his ankle in a draw with Swansea. ‘To leave the pitch after 10 minutes, I am expecting a very big injury,’ says Mourinho with a touch of sarcasm

January 2018 – Plays five games back-to-back for the first time since breaking his leg. Before United’s clash with Burnley, Mourinho says: ‘I can say that in this moment I don’t see many left backs better than this Luke Shaw’

20 January, 2018 – Shaw is dropped to the bench for the game at Turf Moor

March 2018 – Following United’s 3-2 win at Crystal Palace, Shaw seeks assurances of first-team action. Mourinho rounds angrily on him in a meeting at Carrington

March 17, 2018 – Shaw is hauled off at half-time of United’s FA Cup win over Brighton before being publicly shamed by Mourinho once more

The pair have a heated dressing room row, with Shaw asking: ‘Why are you always picking on me?’

After the game, Mourinho says: ‘I was not happy with his performance’

March 19, 2018 – A source close to Shaw brands his treatment by Mourinho ‘an absolute disgrace’ and ‘disgusting’