Luke Shaw has still yet to resume England training at Euro 2024, making him an ongoing doubt to face Slovenia in Wednesday’s final match in Group C.
The Manchester United left-back continued with an individualised programme away from his team-mates on Saturday as the rest of Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad trained as normal at their tournament base in Blankenhain.
Shaw has not played at all for either club or country since being taken off early in back-to-back United games against Aston Villa and Luton in the Premier League in mid-February with a hamstring injury, but was still selected in both Southgate’s provisional and final European Championship squads as the only specialist left-back option, with the likes of Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell snubbed.
Southgate initially appeared optimistic that the 28-year-old would be fit to play some part in the second group game against Denmark in Frankfurt, before his quick progress even led to hope that he could be fit to be a potential option off the bench in the opening game against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen last weekend.
Shaw - who managed only 12 Premier League appearances during an injury-plagued campaign at Old Trafford in 2023/24 - ultimately did not play any part in the Jude Bellingham-inspired 1-0 win over Serbia and was also ruled out of Thursday’s dismal 1-1 draw with the Danes.
“Luke won’t be involved, no,” Southgate said on Wednesday. “He’s actually on track to where we thought he’d be originally.
“We were hoping, a couple of days ago, we might accelerate that a little bit, but he needs a bit more volume work.
“He didn’t train with the rest of the group today, because there are days when he needs to do more than the rest of the group and there are days when he needs to recover when the others are pushing.
“He’s still in and out with the others but operating on his own programme as well.”
The Telegraph reported on Friday that Southgate had planned to ease Shaw into action with some minutes off the bench in their final Group C fixture against Slovenia in Cologne on Wednesday evening, but that plan was now at risk with the player still unable to train with the group.
England have used versatile right-back Kieran Trippier as a makeshift left-back at the tournament so far, with Southgate’s decision not to include another specialist left-sided defender in his squad amid Shaw’s ongoing issues leading to growing criticism from fans and pundits.
If Shaw were to miss out against Slovenia, he would likely have just a few more days to recover with England expected to win Group C despite their lacklustre displays in Germany so far and set up a last-16 showdown with a third-place team from group D, E or F in Gelsenkirchen next Sunday (June 30).
If the Three Lions were to end up finishing as runners-up in their group, they would meet the winners of Group A - very likely to be hosts Germany - in Dortmund on Saturday.
Addressing his injury woes ahead of Euro 2024, Shaw - whom United boss Erik ten Hag said in his role as a pundit for Dutch TV would not be fit to play until the knockout stages - said: “Of course, I would love to make the first game, I can’t lie. But it’s not really down to me. At the moment we just go day by day, see how I react, see how I’m feeling in training.
“I don’t want to be in one of those situations where I rush back too quickly because realistically I’ve only got one chance.
“If I feel something, then that’s it - and I don’t want that to happen. Obviously I’ve had a tough few months, really. But things are looking much more positive now and I'm feeling good.
“I am definitely progressing much better than they thought I would - and me, too. But I don't want to look too far ahead. Obviously, I'm very grateful to Gareth for picking me and showing the faith he has in me.”
