Shaw discusses ‘dark times’ of recovery from broken leg

Matt Stead

Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw has discussed his struggle recovering from his horrific broken leg last season.

Shaw suffered a double fracture of his right leg following a tackle from PSV’s Hector Moreno last September.

After being sidelined for 10 months, the 21-year-old has started both of United’s Premier League matches this season, and has now spoken about his road to recovery in an interview with The Guardian.

“I had a lot of time obviously to go through Twitter and it was really nice to get so much support. The first couple of weeks it was non-stop. But I also remember someone saying: ‘As long as you know that’s going to die down in a few weeks and, after that, it’s just going to be you, focusing on getting back.’ And that did happen, too,” he said.

“I’d heard other players talking about dark times when they were trying to get back from bad injuries. I didn’t think I would be like that but, yeah, there were parts when I was thinking: ‘I just don’t want to be here any more.’

The England international added: “I could hardly walk for six months, never mind play football. I was limping for so long. I was walking with crutches – as in, properly walking – after about the first month because I thought it was much better to put my body weight on and build up the strength. But people have said I was still limping even after I came off the crutches.

“I still get aches. I don’t go a day without feeling it. It’s 100% better but it’s normal, apparently, to feel it after such a bad injury. In the first three or four weeks when I started training outside it felt good, but then all of a sudden it started aching. It didn’t hurt, but it was aching and aching and even before I went out I could feel it and I was thinking: ‘F**k … is it ever going to go away?’”

Shaw could cap his return to first-team football with a recall to the England team when Sam Allardyce names his first squad on Sunday.