England manager Gareth Southgate has challenged Luke Shaw to win his place back at Manchester United if he wants to become a regular starter at international level.
The 21-year-old has made only seven Premier League starts under manager Jose Mourinho this season, just one of which has come since October having lost his place in the side due to a lack of form and fitness.
Shaw made a brief return to international football with a seven-minute cameo during England's 1-0 defeat to Germany on Wednesday night, but Southgate suggested that he will not be able to work his way into the England starting XI if he can not do the same at club level.
"That's for him and his club to deal with. He has got a challenge now to get himself into the team there. I think Luke's sole focus has got to be how can he get himself back in the team if he is not in the team. There's a challenge for every player. We want competition for places, we have got competition for places in every area of the field," he told reporters.
"If you are at a club like Manchester United, that's going to be the same so as an individual how are you going to do everything you can to get back into the side? People say that managers pick teams, but really players do because of the way they train, the way that they are, the way they play. They make your decisions as a manager so that is the challenge Luke has at the moment.
"In an ideal world, you have all your players playing and playing at the highest possible level and playing in Europe and everything else. But we have got to be open-minded because we want the right characters through the door and there are moments when a player isn't playing for his club, like with Luke, where you think this might just give him a bit of a lift, a boost. I don't want to have a hard and fast rule because I might break that in the future at some point."
Shaw has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford this summer, with Tottenham Hotspur reportedly among the clubs interested in the full-back.
Barney Corkhill
