Manchester United have confirmed that Luke Shaw suffered a double leg fracture in their Champions League clash against PSV Eindhoven.
The incident occurred 15 minutes into the 2-1 defeat when left-back Shaw made a surging run into the PSV box and Mexican defender Hector Moreno caught his standing leg as he attempted to poke the ball past him.
United manager Louis van Gaal described the challenge as a “very bad tackle”.
The game was stopped for almost 10 minutes as United’s medical staff attended to the stricken 20-year-old and they gave him oxygen before putting him onto a stretcher.
United confirmed after the match that Shaw had suffered a double fracture to his right leg and would return to Manchester on Wednesday to undergo an operation.
Former United striker Dwight Yorke told Sky Sports News the injury was a massive setback for both the United and England.
“It is such a saddening thing for Luke Shaw because he has been absolutely outstanding from Manchester United’s point of view,” Yorke said.
“There were question marks about his fitness, about his commitment to being one of the top players, but he has come back and proven himself to a lot of people this season.
“This [is] a massive blow not only for Manchester United, but for England as well. This is a terrible thing to happen to the young lad.”
The England international had been one of United’s standout players this season after spending the summer getting himself into peak physical condition.
Marcos Rojo, who replaced Shaw at the Philips Stadion, is likely to be a long-term replacement for Shaw at United this season.
Shortly after suffering the injury, Shaw thanked the well-wishers who sent him notes of support via his Twitter account.
He wrote: “Thank you everyone for your messages, words can’t describe how gutted I am, my road to recovery starts now, I will come back stronger.”
His former club Southampton told Shaw to “come back stronger”, to which he replied: “Thank you, you don’t know how much you as a club mean to me, thank you so much I really appreciate it.”
Sky News
