A new report claims Manchester United’s decision to reward Luke Shaw with a new contract ‘didn’t align with the data’ at the time.
When fit, Shaw is capable of being one of the best full-backs in the Premier League and arguably remains England’s best left-back without the injury factor.
However, the 29-year-old has been marred by injuries at Man Utd and he’s barely featured for the Premier League giants over the past two seasons.
Since the start of the 2023/24 campaign, Shaw has made only 14 Premier League appearances, including only two outings this season.
Shaw recovered from knee and calf issues before the New Year and came off the bench against Ipswich Town and Everton, but he has been out of action with a muscle injury for around four months.
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Man Utd have also been without Tyrell Malacia, so head coach Ruben Amorim has had limited options at left wing-back and had to enter the market to sign Patrick Dorgu in January for around £25m.
Shaw has experienced his injury woes after he shone for Man Utd during the 2022/23 campaign. His form this season earned him a new four-year contract, but they will regret their decision to extend the 29-year-old’s deal.
A new report from The Telegraph claims Man Utd have been impacted by ‘market misjudgements’, with an ‘error’ made with Shaw.
The report delved into Dominic Jordan’s role at Man Utd before his exit in July 2024. He served as their director of data science before being let go as part of the first round of staff redundancies sanctioned by INEOS chief Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
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The report revealed:
‘Jordan’s team were tasked with building the statistical models covering physical and technical performance, injury history and financial profiling as well as providing the benchmarking to adequately compensate for the relative strengths or weaknesses of a competition against the Premier League.
‘In that regard, fans will justifiably wonder how United then continued to make so many errors of judgement in the market. Some of those frustrations were also felt internally.
‘Ultimately, the work of a data team is undermined if the red flags they raise – and recommendations they make – are overlooked as decision-makers act out of desperation or indulge a manager’s fancy.
‘In April 2023, United opted to award Luke Shaw a new four-year contract on highly lucrative terms that did not align with the data on the England left-back’s worrying injury record. Shaw had averaged just 17 Premier League starts over nine seasons and, in the two years since being handed that deal, he has made just 20 league starts, his last coming 13 months ago.’