Luke Shaw deserves all the praise in the world – but should he be in the England squad?

Luke Shaw has done tremendously well to return from a career-threatening injury. He could have lost his leg. He has been through a lot and I am not just talking about the injury, either.

Jose Mourinho would surely have been aware that Shaw almost lost his leg, so could have shown a little more restraint when it came to his criticisms of the left-back. The majority of managers will have been players so they can relate to the worries and fears after such an injury.

However, in general, people with a heart would fully understand the mental side of having such a serious injury.

I can sympathise, having had a few serious injuries during my career - I tore my cruciate and ankle ligaments. The ankle injury was much more difficult to get over. I injured it at United, during the 1993-94 season but I didn’t have it operated on until late 1994. The ligaments were ruptured but I was playing on with strappings, injections, and anti-inflammatories. They weren’t given enough time to heal.

It isn’t just the physical pain, though, it is the subconscious, psychological worry that the ligament could go again. Or in Shaw’s instance the worry that were he to fly into another challenge, that he could do serious, serious damage. It was a horrific injury. Some players can shut it out; some can’t.

From my perspective, after the ankle injury, I was worried whenever I turned. One of my biggest assets was my ability to turn, and use my recovery pace. However, post injury I always had in the back of my mind that they could go again. I no longer felt I could get tight; it changed my game. It affected me in my head, and I didn’t feel right. In 1997 I decided to retire on the back of it.

However, Shaw, to his credit has come through it very well. He should be immensely proud of himself for what he has come through. His support network also deserves huge praise for the way they have helped him navigate such a tough part of his career.

I have seen him criticised in some quarters.

His weight seems always to be a bit of a talking point but the focus should be on the way he is playing. The one thing that has not been lacking is his ability to get up and down the pitch. He certainly doesn’t look unfit, he certainly doesn’t get outrun by anyone and he certainly does not look tired come the end of the game.

People make too much of body shape. Look, to be fit enough to play elite-level football you do not have to have the physique of a bodybuilder. Every footballer now wants to pound weights, get himself an eight pack and have a waist of about 28 inches. And think that they can participate on Love Island. It is nonsense, you don’t have to be ripped to be fit.

Paul Scholes, Andrea Pirlo and, too an extent, Paul Gascoigne were hardly physical specimens. Look, you can’t judge a player by their waistline. Shaw is a very good player who has been persecuted to an extent and people don’t like seeing others getting bullied – and being bullied publicly.

He has returned to the England squad and fair play to him. However, if I was Ryan Bertrand I’d be feeling pretty sick. Very rarely does he have a bad game but he is consistently overlooked. Truth be told, he should have gone to the World Cup ahead of Danny Rose or Ashley Young.

I think Bertrand has suffered from big club bias. Bertrand is better than both Young and Shaw but has not really had a look in. Young is, in my mind, a poor full back. Not his fault but he completely disrupts the natural flow of a team. He is not quick enough to get around the outside and can’t cross with his left foot. Young is now out in the cold and Shaw is in. It is a bit odd.

For me, it would be Bertrand as first choice and then a fight between Danny Rose and Shaw for the second spot in that squad.

Southampton have struggled the last year or so but he has been superb. This is a guy who came in from the cold to win a Champions League medal with Chelsea. He has the talent, he has shown he has the mental strength, so why is he not getting the breaks?

On the subject of England, they need to kick on. The UEFA Nations League game against Spain is a competitive game. England need to beat an elite-level national team in a competitive game. Forget the World Cup – we lost three games against two top teams; in fact, we didn’t even play a glove on them. So England need to forget the World Cup and be realistic about things. In reality, they achieved little. England have to beat Spain. They are in transition and England need to take advantage of that.

With that in mind, although the Swiss game is a friendly, Southgate, should, regardless of the result in the Spain game, make limited changes. International football is all about continuity. If Gareth Southgate wants to make changes then he should only make two or three. Put the young players in with seasoned internationals to see how they fare. It is not fair to change the whole team – the players nor Southgate learn much.

It was not fair on the players who played in the third/fourth play-off against Belgium at the World Cup. Marcus Rashford was criticised after the match but it was a difficult situation to play in - the players were all adapting to a new system in a game situation and that’s tough.

They couldn’t get their combinations going. What was the point? To get players caps at the World Cup? That needs to stop. Blooding news players with senior pros gives them confidence and a boost. It is of benefit to no one for, for want of a better word, reserves playing with each other.

Southgate had a free pass at the World Cup, but he has now risen expectations. People expected very little from England but they went and overachieved. They have to do that again now. What a way to kick off the second part of his tenure – with a win against Spain.