Chelsea could edge out Manchester United in hunt for promising young full-back Luke Shaw

Luke Shaw

Manchester United have been linked with a January move for Southampton’s young, English left-back, Luke Shaw for a while now but according to a source in The Express, the youngster is a Chelsea fan and would be “delighted to play for them”. It is thought that the ageing Patrice Evra is on his way out with David Moyes chasing Leighton Baines all summer long before Shaw emerged as a target after Everton held firm. The news that he allegedly would prefer to be understudy to Ashley Cole and potential Ryan Bertrand will be disappointing to United fans.

Shaw broke into the Southampton first team at the tender age of 16 when he made his debut in the FA Cup and had already been linked to big clubs such as Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City.

In last season’s Premier League campaign, Shaw made 25 appearances for Southampton and impressed a lot of clubs. His pace and attacking intent was noticeable but that didn’t retract from his defensive game. The youngster is an all-round package, creating 10 chances last season as well as averaging seven defensive actions per game.

Already, this season, in six Premier League matches, Shaw makes an average of six defensive actions per match and has created two chances.

He has won 68% of his duels; most notable is his tackling which he has a 75% success rate (6/8). Winning 9 of his 13 headers means he has a 69% success rate when challenging in the air, which is a good number for a full-back.

His Performance Score (96) is one of the highest amongst the Southampton squad this season.

In the Saints’ most recent match, away at Man United, Shaw played well and was rampaging up and down his left wing all afternoon. He completed 39 of 57 passes, even playing one key pass across the penalty area.

As you can see below, his heat map shows how much time he spent on Man Utd’s half, attacking and putting Rafael under pressure all afternoon. Impressive.

In the first half, whilst United were on top, Shaw had to defend quite a lot. However, in the second half, when Southampton got a foothold in the game, Shaw was free to express himself and attack a lot more. That is clear in this performance graph showing how his attacking intent increased as the match went on.

Luke Shaw is a highly rated young, English full-back who’s playing exceptionally well. He was not fazed by the size of the opposition or stadiums against Liverpool and Manchester United and looks to be getting even better with every passing week. If David Moyes is looking for an attacking left-back who’s also solid in defence, then he should look no further than Luke Shaw. The only problem may be the price-tag attached to the young man as Southampton will be desperate to keep hold of him.