Ruben Amorim might just have gone from having no leaders in the Man Utd squad to having some beyond his appointed ones, if Rio Ferdinand is to be believed.
The whole of last season at Man Utd was spent by Ruben Amorim trying to develop a leadership and accountable culture.
Recently, he accepted that he had to fight all the fights in the dressing room because there were no strong voices who could take care of the small stuff for him.
However, he recently appointed a Man Utd leadership group consisting of six players, but as per Rio Ferdinand, a player not in that group has a ‘very strong stature’ within the Man Utd squad.
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty ImagesRio Ferdinand on Man Utd’s dressing room
Amorim revealed that United’s leadership group consists of Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot, Harry Maguire, Tom Heaton, Noussair Mazraoui, and Lisandro Martinez.
Most of those names are along the expected lines, but going off of merely the time spent at the club, there is a glaring absentee.
Ferdinand, speaking on his YouTube channel, revealed that Luke Shaw, who has been at the club for more than a decade now, is a strong voice in the dressing room despite not being in a leadership group in a formal capacity.
He said: “[Luke Shaw’s] stature within that squad, I noticed that while on tour, he has a very strong stature. He has been there, nearly 10 years. He’s seen it all, bad times, good.
“He’s one of the most experienced, most “Man Utd” players in the squad. It was a strong comment from him [calling out ‘stragglers’ in the squad]. He must be feeling the difference, the positivity.”
Luke Shaw needs to validate his standing on the pitch
While Amorim will be happy that players beyond the leadership group are also growing in stature, Shaw’s case is slightly different.
Injury issues have never allowed him to sustain a good run of form at Old Trafford, and that has inevitably hurt his standing in the eyes of Man Utd fans.
The players won’t say it to each other out loud, but if a player is not available regularly, their voice won’t hold the same effect, regardless of how long they’ve been at the club.
Shaw has looked fit this pre-season, and will hope to validate his strong stature in the squad by playing regularly, because his form is never a problem.
As long as he is available for selection, he remains a world-class player, in Amorim’s own words. He just needs to back it up on the pitch.