Luke Shaw fitness: Louis van Gaal criticises Roy Hodgson for public comments on Manchester United defender

The England manager spoke of how the youngster can improve his fitness

United’s £27m summer signing Luke Shaw will be out for up to four weeks with a hamstring injury (Getty Images)

Manchester United’s Louis van Gaal has criticised Roy Hodgson for publicly lecturing Luke Shaw on his fitness, questioning how the England manager can possibly speak with authority, having not viewed the full-back training recently.

Van Gaal was responding to Hodgson’s comments on how Shaw can improve his fitness, and his revelation that several England staff had spoken to him about this during the World Cup.

The United manager said that he was unhappy to have seen subsequent “nasty articles” about the full-back. “He is not fit now because he [has a hamstring injury] but Roy Hodgson cannot judge at this moment,” Van Gaal said. “Roy Hodgson cannot judge him because I have never seen him here in a training session. I think he refers to the World Cup – it is possible, I don’t know. But that I want to ask.”

The Dutchman revealed during United’s pre-season tour that Shaw had not been fit enough to perform the wing-back’s duties he had been designated and revealed he was undertaking specialist sessions with fitness coaches. But Van Gaal said the 19-year-old’s response had been excellent.

“I changed his [training] programme and he has done everything he has to do to be fit and now he is an example in the dressing room. And he is training fantastic. So when you want to write something, maybe you can ask me if he is doing his work or not.”