Luke Shaw has admitted he has used England’s end-of-season camp as an opportunity to try to convince some of his international teammates their futures at club level lie with him at Manchester United, saying he would take the likes of Harry Kane and Declan Rice at Old Trafford “in a heartbeat”.
Kane and Rice are two of several players in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Euro 24 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia whose futures are under scrutiny this summer. Rice is increasingly likely to leave West Ham while speculation over Kane’s future at Tottenham is again rife. The futures of fellow England internationals such as Jordan Pickford and Mason Mount have also come under discussion.
Shaw added fuel to the fire on Saturday when he teased via Instagram that he had given Kane and Rice a tour of United’s Carrington training complex. He admitted he was only “half-joking” when posting that, largely because he has been pestering them over a move to join him at Old Trafford next season.
“Because of the timing of the season and what’s going on, there is a lot of talk,” he said. “I can’t lie, I’d love a few of them to come to United, I’m not going to lie. I am speaking to them telling them how good Manchester is, because I know their qualities.
“They’re world-class players and they’d add massive strength to us. But of course, I can only say so much, it’s down to the club and what they decide. They’ve been here the last couple of days, hopefully they like and get used to it. I was only half-joking [about his Instagram post], it’s a bit of both. Like I said there, I know they’re both world-class players. Of course I don’t know what’s going on with the situation at their clubs but if it was down to me, I’d take them in a heartbeat. They’d help us go on to what we want to achieve.”
Shaw also admitted that given England’s players break for the summer after their game against North Macedonia at Old Trafford on Monday, the timing of their latest camp makes it increasingly difficult to avoid transfer speculation. He also said it was a great sign of England’s strength as a squad that so many players in Southgate’s group are being courted, with Jude Bellingham having already completed a transfer to Real Madrid.
The 27-year-old said: “It’s hard not to read it, it’s everywhere. Everyone does read it but I think because of the situation and when this camp is, with people’s contracts running down, there’s much more talk this time. We read what’s going on, we all talk, we’re all really close and we have private conversations. You could pick anyone in this squad you’d love to come to your team. The strength and depth we have here, the players we have are exceptional. Any player that leaves to go to another club next season is only going to make their team better and increase their strength.”
As the only specialist left-back in England’s squad, Shaw is almost certain to win his 31st cap against North Macedonia. However, the rest of Southgate’s starting lineup is far less certain, with the whole squad – including Bukayo Saka, who left the field on Friday – available, including the Manchester City quintet of John Stones, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips and Phil Foden. Of that five, only Foden featured in the win in Malta but with extra recovery time following City’s Champions League victory, they are now in contention to start against North Macedonia.
So too is Trent Alexander-Arnold, who impressed in central midfield against Malta. “It’s another option and it’s an exciting one,” Southgate said of the Liverpool player. “We know the outstanding qualities that he has. I thought he adapted really well to the role. It’s certainly difficult to name a team because we’ve got some depth and players who’ve all trained well.”
