Luke Shaw says he is fit to start England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands having revealed a recent setback in training meant he feared his tournament was over before it had even started.
The 28-year-old endured his “most frustrating season” to date having dealt with “injury after injury”, restricting him to just 15 appearances for Manchester United.
Shaw suffered a hamstring injury in mid-February that he hoped to return from before May’s FA Cup final, only to suffer a tear that laid him low for a further six weeks and made him a doubt for the Euros.
Gareth Southgate took a calculated gamble by naming him in England’s 26-man squad, with the left-back making his first appearance in 139 days off the bench in Saturday’s quarter-final shoot-out win against Switzerland.
“The last four months have been really tough,” the Euro 2020 final goalscorer said.
“I think obviously, at the start I was expected to come back a lot sooner but, you know, I went through quite a few setbacks, to be honest. But I’m here now and it was really nice to get on the other night.
“I’ve been itching to get some minutes. It’s been a long while but really pleased that I was able to get on the pitch and get some minutes, and of course, now hopefully get some more in the next game.”
Asked if he feels fit to start and play 90 minutes or even longer, Shaw said: “Yeah, of course. I think I am. But obviously that’s solely down to Gareth’s decision on what he does, but how I feel, I feel fit and ready to go.”
Shaw wants to repay the faith of Southgate, who took the bold decision to make the recovering United defender the only out-and-out left-back in his squad.
It was a decision Shaw reveals he feared nearly backfired after suffering another setback during England training in Germany.
Asked if he feared he would miss the whole tournament, he said: “Yeah, I think so. I think purely because of what I’d been through.
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“I worked so hard to get to that place where I was at and then for something like that to happen, I was of course worried.
“But I had a scan and it wasn’t too bad so it was only a minor one. I knew there was still an opportunity to come back and play later on in the tournament.
“It was just in training. I actually overstretched to be honest. It was only minor and I’m here now.”