Luke Shaw: Biography, Injury, Salary, and Mourinho Feud

Few players have spent as long at Manchester United as Luke Shaw has — and fewer still have navigated the kind of career whiplash he has. Signed from Southampton for £27 million as a teenager, he went on to survive a double leg fracture, public fallouts with Jose Mourinho, and a late-career resurgence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Put the numbers and the setbacks side by side, and a more complicated portrait emerges than the usual “injury-prone” label suggests.

Full name: Luke Paul Hoare Shaw ·
Date of birth: 12 July 1995 ·
Club: Manchester United ·
Position: Left-back / Centre-back ·
Premier League appearances: 296 ·
Market value: €8.00 million

Six key facts about Shaw’s current standing, across club, national team, and contract status.

What has happened to Luke Shaw?

Latest injury update

Shaw’s 2024-25 season has been defined by a persistent calf injury that first surfaced in preseason. The Athletic (tier 2 football journalism) reported that the injury sidelined him until Ruben Amorim’s first match against Ipswich in November 2024. After a brief return, Shaw suffered another setback that he described on Instagram as his “absolute devastation” and “toughest period.”

Return to play timeline

• On February 6, 2025, manager Ruben Amorim confirmed Shaw had sustained a “small issue” different from the previous injury, per The Athletic.
• Amorim stated the club was “being careful” with Shaw’s recovery, declining to give a return date.
• Shaw has played only 962 Premier League minutes across the last two seasons combined.

The implication: Manchester United are managing Shaw’s minutes with an eye on the 2025-26 season, but each missed game deepens the gap between his experience and his match fitness.

How much does Luke Shaw earn a week?

Weekly salary breakdown

Shaw’s reported wages vary depending on the source, creating some uncertainty around the exact figure. SalarySport (wage data aggregator) lists his weekly pay at £200,000, while Capology (contract database) estimates a base salary of £150,000 gross per week, equating to £7.8 million per year. Spotrac (sports salary tracker) reports a four-year deal worth $31.2 million, with an average annual salary of $7.8 million.

The Athletic reported in March 2025 that Shaw’s current pay is affected by Manchester United’s Champions League-related wage adjustment system, which reduces base salaries when the club fails to qualify for the tournament.

Contract duration

Shaw’s contract at Old Trafford runs until June 30, 2027, according to SalarySport. That makes him one of the longer-serving players in the current squad under contract, despite the injury interruptions.

What did Jose Mourinho say about Luke Shaw?

Mourinho’s public criticism

The feud between Shaw and his former manager remains one of the most talked-about episodes of his career. In April 2017, after a 1-1 draw with Everton, Mourinho told reporters that Shaw used “his body with my brain” and that the defender “cannot play with my brain,” urging young players to “grow up” quickly, as reported by BBC Sport (tier 2 sports news). Shaw had been left out of the squad against West Brom before the meeting.

In November 2018, Mourinho singled out Shaw, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford as players lacking the “character” and “personality” he wanted, according to The Independent (tier 2 news outlet).

Even after leaving Manchester United, Mourinho continued to criticise Shaw. During Euro 2020, while working as a radio pundit, he called Shaw’s set-piece delivery “drastically bad” after England beat the Czech Republic, per BBC Sport.

Shaw’s response

Shaw told the BBC in June 2021 that he did not understand why he continued to receive criticism from Mourinho, saying he had moved on and was focused on his form under Solskjaer. ESPN (tier 2 sports media) reported that Gary Neville called Mourinho’s criticism of Shaw “a distraction,” adding that the manager’s public comments were unhelpful for a young player’s development.

The pattern: Mourinho’s criticism of Shaw was persistent across multiple seasons and settings, while Shaw’s on-field performances under subsequent managers suggest the issue was at least partly tactical and personal rather than purely about ability.

How many children does Luke Shaw have?

Family details

Shaw has two children with his long-term partner, Anouska Santos. The couple have been together since before Shaw’s move to Manchester United and maintain a relatively private family life away from the public eye. Shaw has occasionally shared family moments on social media, but he does not regularly discuss his children in interviews.

Partner Anouska

Anouska Santos is a fashion stylist and has been a consistent presence alongside Shaw throughout his career, including during his recovery from the 2015 leg fracture. The couple’s relationship is among the more stable personal aspects of Shaw’s life, contrasting with the turbulence of his professional career under multiple managers.

What is Luke Shaw’s injury history?

Major injuries during career

• September 2015: Double leg fracture during a Champions League match against PSV Eindhoven, sidelining him for nearly a year.
• 2017-2019: Recurring hamstring and muscle issues limited him to 38 Premier League starts across two seasons.
• 2023-2024: Multiple muscle injuries limited him to 15 appearances across all competitions, per The Athletic.
• 2024-2025: Calf injury in preseason, return in November, then another setback described as the “toughest period” of his career.

Impact on playing time

Shaw has played 962 Premier League minutes across the last two seasons combined — a stark drop from the 2,484 minutes he played in the 2020-21 season alone. The cumulative effect of the injuries has cost him over 150 games since joining Manchester United, based on match-day squads he has missed.

The catch: Shaw’s talent has never been in question — he was named in the Euro 2020 Team of the Tournament — but his body has not consistently allowed him to display it. For a player who turns 30 in July 2025, the window for a sustained injury-free run is narrowing.

Shaw’s career is a study in resilience, but resilience alone does not win titles or keep a starting place. For Manchester United, the decision is whether to continue banking on a player who, when fit, is one of the best left-backs in the league — or to invest in a replacement who can actually stay on the pitch. For Shaw, the 2025-26 season is shaping up as the most consequential of his career: another injury-hit year, and the narrative flips from “unlucky” to “unavailable.”

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