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Some Manchester United substitutes have not emerged for pre-match warm-ups this season and it appeared Luke Shaw might remain indoors at Ewood Park. Nearly five minutes after his teammates bestrode the saturated turf out trundled Shaw for the February FA Cup tie.

However harmless it appeared it reflected unfavourably on a player whose only outing in the previous two-and-a-half months was against Championship opposition amid issues with his training and attitude. Little has changed.

Shaw can appear detached from colleagues and he was the personification of the introvert on Saturday. United's non-starters against West Brom took part in a post-match five-a-side session on the Old Trafford turf and at its conclusion Jose Mourinho brought them into a huddle, spoke for 30 seconds or so and then ended the session.

As the band headed for the tunnel one player was left behind: Shaw. While his colleagues were entering the tunnel Shaw was in the centre circle. They were so distant a jumbo jet could have flown between them.

He might have just been informed what his manager had told the media 20 minutes earlier.

"What does Luke Shaw need to do to get on to the bench?" the Press Association's reporter asked Mourinho.

The reply? "Who?"

One word, three letters and one syllable encapsulated Shaw's situation at United.

Shaw's training performances, commitment, focus and ambition were all queried. "He is a long way behind," Mourinho warned, sparking the summer auction. Shaw is believed to want to leave.

Mourinho merely confirmed the whispers surrounding Shaw since he regained fitness at the start of January. He is under-performing in training and his attitude is still irking the United manager. Some United players have spoken with Shaw about convincing Mourinho and one is understood to have simply said the 21-year-old 'needs to get his s*** together'. The consensus is Shaw 'doesn't help himself'.

A teenage Shaw met Mourinho during a frosty meeting to discuss signing for Chelsea three years ago and the ice has still not been broken. The Portuguese suggested months later Shaw was motivated by money and that contributed to the defender's brother's Twitter outburst after Shaw was overlooked for the squad at Chelsea in October. His brother tweeted that Mourinho has 'always had something against Luke'.

While having what appears to be an irreconcilable relationship with Mourinho, Shaw's form and fitness at United has plummeted. He has watched Marcos Rojo and Matteo Darmian encourage opponents and Daley Blind hop on the left-back merry-go-round. Ashley Young has also hopped on but whenever Shaw does he is just as quickly kicked off.

Darmian and Rojo are poorer footballers than Shaw but they compensate through application. Shaw, like his friend Memphis, has been under-performing in training and has not given Mourinho an incentive to restore him.

Sad is an overused word in football but that is how Shaw's United career will be remembered. Depicted by some as a sensitive soul, you have to wonder if the mental scars from Hector Moreno's brutal challenge in Eindhoven have completely healed. Until that devastating break Shaw was United's outstanding player of the campaign, transferring his pre-season ebullience to competitive matches and embarking on a run against Club Brugge which was comparable to Ryan Giggs' scintillating surge against Sheffield United 22 years earlier.

In an era where the full-back is fundamental to a team's success, there was a worthy argument United's defence and attack should be built around Shaw and Antonio Valencia, similar to Tottenham's success with Kyle Walker and Danny Rose. The trouble is only one of United's is figuring for the team.

Louis van Gaal rebuked Shaw for his fitness two-and-a-half years ago and it remains an ongoing concern. Managers are so finicky about players' diet that David Moyes once went ballistic at a United player for grabbing a complimentary sausage roll in Manchester Airport's business lounge.

Mourinho's diplomacy has seldom convinced.

"He will be here for sure, that is out of the question," Mourinho said in February. Mourinho also said he would 'never sell' Rooney when it is inevitable the United captain will leave during this summer. "I didn’t sell him," Mourinho said of Juan Mata's switch to United from Chelsea three years ago. To Mourinho, there is a difference between a manager selling a player and the player requesting to leave. Shaw might have made it.

Mourinho has tried to accommodate Shaw's personality with the arm-around-the-shoulder approach, which is not his forte. He cheerfully confirmed Shaw's availability for the Bournemouth match and when asked about United's left-back situation opted for a paean to Shaw, reiterating he had the ability to develop into football's outstanding left-back in two years' time. It also transpired Mourinho had no plans to bring in a replacement for Shaw.

Shaw started the following day against Bournemouth and in a niggly half which included one red card and retrospective suspensions for Tyrone Mings and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Shaw is believed to have spoken with Mings after he maliciously stamped on Ibrahimovic's head. That infuriated Mourinho and he has not played Shaw since.

He has remained indoors.

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