Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw has revealed that he nearly lost his right leg after breaking it in September 2015.
When playing for United in a Champions League match against the Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, Shaw broke his leg in two places following a challenge by Hector Moreno. The former Southampton star went on to miss the rest of that season and had to go through a long spell of recovery and rehabilitation.
Now back in the United team and latest England squad the 23-year-old has spoken about the horrific injury.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
Quoted by Sky Sports, Shaw said: “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes think about stopping playing football, but I had a lot of good friends and family around me and they helped me through it.
“I nearly lost my leg... and I never knew that until six months after when the doctor told me. Of course... even if he had told me there was a worry, I would have tried [to carry on playing football].”
“I want to be playing football, I want to be playing in the biggest games possible, winning trophies – that’s my motivation, and like I said I want to be known as one of the best full-backs in the world.”
‘I feel really strong’
Shaw revealed that a flight from Holland back to England after the Champions League match in 2015 could have had terrible consequences.
He said: “At the time, they were thinking about flying me back [from Eindhoven] and if I’d have flown back, I would probably have lost my leg because of the blood clots and stuff in the leg.
“I’ve got – I don’t want to talk about it too much – two scars down the side of my leg where they had to cut it open and pull them out because of how severe it was. But I don’t really care about that anymore. I feel really strong – and my right leg is exactly as it was before my leg break.”
Gareth Southgate’s England side play Spain on Saturday and play against Switzerland on Tuesday.
