Shaw: Return From Injury Was Emotional

Luke Shaw admits he felt emotional when returning from his double leg fracture during last weekend's friendly at Wigan Athletic, but now the Manchester United defender is focused on the future and challenging for titles under the tutelage of new manager Jose Mourinho.

Shaw fractured his leg in two places while playing against PSV Eindhoven back in September 2015 and his road back to fitness at the Aon Training Complex was a long one, although his appearance at the DW Stadium hopefully signals the start of a successful comeback for the England international.

Speaking at a press conference in Shanghai on Thursday, on the eve of United’s pre-season friendly against Borussia Dortmund, Shaw explained how it felt to play again following his lengthy absence.

"It is the best feeling ever," Luke told reporters in China with a smile on his face. "When I had my first game on Saturday against Wigan, I felt so emotional. The way the crowd were with me, the cheers when I first had my first touch... you know that meant a lot to me. Obviously my family were there to see it and like I said it was the best feeling."

Asked if he ever feared he might not play again, Shaw admitted: "When I first did it the first thoughts that went through my head were 'am I going to play football again' and 'how long am I going to be out for'. I wasn't thinking too much of the pain because I can deal with that at that point but yes there was a fear of how long it was going to take or even if I was going to get back playing football.

"Obviously as I was going through it [the rehabilitation process] I knew I was coming back. I think now I'm just looking past it, I'm not going to look back, I'm just going to look forward now and obviously my leg feels great and you know I just want to push on in this pre-season and get fully fit."

Shaw’s return has coincided with Mourinho’s appointment as manager at United and the boyhood Chelsea fan is excited to work with the former Stamford Bridge boss in the coming season. "I'm really looking forward to working with him. We've done a couple of weeks now and I've spoken to him a couple of times and obviously the others players have talked to him as well.

"I think we are going to be challenging for every sort of title that we can go for this season. We all feel strong as a group and it's important now to sort out the tactical side of what Jose wants us to do in games, so we're practicing that in training sessions and hopefully we can take that into games and show a very strong side."

With any new manager comes speculation about the composition of his squad and one reporter asked Shaw if the players are playing for their futures during this pre-season tour of China.

“I don't know - you always have to play for your future,” the 21-year-old answered. “There will always be players coming in. You have to get used to that. Everyone has looked normal, there have been no discussions about anyone leaving. We're enjoying the training at the moment.”