Luke Shaw has been selling Manchester United to his England team-mates and says he would take Harry Kane and Declan Rice at Old Trafford “in a heartbeat”.
Having continued their winning start to Euro 2024 qualification by beating Malta 4-0 on Friday, Gareth Southgate’s side have been preparing at Carrington for the season finale against North Macedonia.
Shaw posted an Instagram story on Saturday showing pictures of him at the United training base next to Kane and Rice with the caption “Carrington tour” and an eyes emoji.
The lighthearted post comes with the futures of Tottenham striker Kane and West Ham captain Rice among the highest profile of many transfer talking points surrounding this group of England players.
“It is not normally discussed but, because of the time of the season and what is going on, there is a lot of talk, a lot of banter,” Shaw said.
“I would love a few of them to join United – I am not going to lie. I am speaking to them, telling them how good Manchester is because I know their qualities.
“I know they are world-class players and they would be a massive help to us but I can only say so much. It is up to the club and whatever they decide, so we have to go from there.”
Shaw joked “hopefully they like it and can get used to it” at United, who have a long-standing interest in Kane and Rice but are understood to view deals for the duo as highly unlikely.
Mason Mount – absent from the England camp through injury – is the more immediate midfield prospect as United look to build on a promising first season under Erik ten Hag.
“Yes, half joking,” the left-back said of the Instagram post. “It is a bit of both. I know they are both world-class players and I don’t know what is going on at their clubs.
“But if it was down to me, I would take them in a heartbeat and they would improve our team massively and help us go to what we want to achieve.”
Shaw said “you could pick anyone in this squad and love them to come” to a United side that are on the up.
“I’ve been here for a long time now,” said the 27-year-old, who joined the Old Trafford outfit from Southampton in 2014.
“I’ve been through very different periods, a lot of ups and downs, but I can feel that the club is going in the right direction now.
“I care about this club a lot and I’ll do anything I can to bring the right players here that I know the manager will like and want and who will definitely improve our team.
“It’s only a matter of time until we’re challenging for the big trophies.”
Shaw openly said at the end of the season that United need “big signings” as Ten Hag continues to shape the squad in his image.
Whether captain Harry Maguire has a part to play in that remains unclear after a season he spent sat on the sidelines far more than he wanted.
Left-back Shaw has even been selected at centre-back ahead of the world’s most expensive defender.
“It’s tough,” he said. “I think a few times Harry has been struggling with a niggle, so he wasn’t always 100 per cent fit.
“But I also do think the manager does like a left-footed centre-back – that’s in his philosophy and the way he wants to play.
“I played there in one game and he really liked me in that position, and he kept me there.
“But of course I’m really close with Harry, we speak a lot and for me personally, whenever I’m on that pitch, I have to do my best and that’s wherever the manager wants me to play.”
Maguire may well start against North Macedonia on Monday, when Shaw will win a 31st cap of an international career that looked like it could fall flat.
He won eight caps between 2014 and 2021, when the Euros final goalscorer kicked on and established himself as Southgate’s first-choice left-back.
“I love it so much,” Shaw said ahead of Monday’s Old Trafford qualifier. “The feeling playing for your country is one of the best ever.
“You touched on appreciating it more, and I definitely do. There were times I made mistakes and didn’t really understand how lucky I was to be in this position.
“For me, I’ve matured, I grew up and I realised how important it is for me to appreciate playing for England.
“I definitely do now. Every time I step out on that pitch I feel lucky and blessed to be in this position.
“Hopefully I can keep giving my best for the country because I love playing for them so much.”
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Al-Riyadh 0-1 Al-Nassr: Mane hands visitors bragging rights
Sadio Mane's first-half strike ensured Al-Nassr maintained their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season with a 1-0 win over rivals Al-Riyadh.
He smartly finished from close range in the 41st minute, with his goal enough to seal the three points and move Al-Nassr up to third in the table.
Al-Nassr's threat grew as the first half went on, with Milan Borjan making a fine double stop to deny Ronaldo and Talisca once again before Mohamed Simakan struck the post on the rebound.
Mane would eventually break the deadlock in the 41st minute though, darting in front of his marker to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb's low cross and rifle it into the roof of the net.
The Senegalese striker arguably should have doubled his tally before the break, but was denied by Borjan's stretching save when one-on-one with the Canadian.
Talisca should have wrapped up the points in the final three minutes, but he blazed over an empty net from close range, before having a late goal disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Derby delight for Al-Nassr
After drawing their last two matches, this win was a welcome result for Al-Nassr as they racked up their sixth victory of the season to close the gap at the top of the table to six points.
It is just the second time Al-Nassr have avoided defeat in their first 10 matches of a Pro League campaign, last doing so in 2013-14, when they won the league title.
They are now unbeaten in their last seven Pro League derbies (W4 D3), their longest such streak since a run of nine between 2018 and 2020.
This is the first time in eight such games that they have kept a clean sheet though, and limited their opponents to just five shots throughout.
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