Luke Shaw has proved Jose Mourinho wrong amid Manchester United rise under Erik ten Hag

"I was making every decision for him. He has to change his football brain."

As observations go it was up there with the cruellest. Jose Mourinho had no problem calling out Luke Shaw in public during his time at Manchester United.

But, six years on from those comments, Shaw is on the brink of agreeing a new long-term United deal that will take him past a decade at Old Trafford. It looked a long way off under Mourinho but the full back has progressed spectacularly in recent years.

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He arrived at Old Trafford less than two years after breaking into the senior team at Southampton and initially struggled to settle in his new surroundings. That got harder in 2015 when the full back suffered a horrendous leg break which kept him out of action for six months.

By the time he returned, Louis van Gaal had been sacked and Mourinho had been appointed. Shaw returned to the first team in a 1-1 draw against Everton, but his showing prompted that answer from Jose.

"He was in front of me and I was making every decision for him. He has to change his football brain," Mourinho said after the game. "We need his fantastic physical and technical qualities, but he cannot continue to play with my brain."

Thee comments would end up defining the relationship between the pair. The England international later admitted the relationship was strained between himself and Mourinho.

"It wasn't the best," he said in 2021. "It was probably quite easy to see that from the outside. But one thing Jose did do was make me mentally much stronger.

"I think mental strength is what I would describe that period under Jose Mourinho. I think I felt part of the team under Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer], whereas under Jose,