Nobody had prepared Luke Shaw for the baggage that arrives at the door of an 18-year-old signing for Manchester United.
The expectations are huge, playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world, and when you cost £27million, every mistake is put under the microscope.
There was no question that Shaw, widely regarded as a long-term successor for Patrice Evra at United and Ashley Cole at international level, had the ability to become a huge success when he arrived at the club in July 2014. But the mental aspect of ‘making it’ can often divide the good players and the great ones.
For a long time, injuries had taken their toll and questions regarding his professionalism from former managers brought his future into question.
He suffered a potentially career-ending double leg-break against PSV Eindhoven in 2015/16 which hampered his physical development and progress, not least affecting the player mentally.
Shaw was forced to watch the Europa League final in 2017 from the sidelines as part of the group of United players who were left on crutches due to their respective injuries.
"I was really happy for the squad," Shaw told the Manchester Evening News. "For the team, for the fans that season, it was a good season.
"We weren't involved but, to be honest, we had all played a part in that season in the Europa League, we had played games. We were cheering on from the sidelines. There were videos of Eric [Bailly] throwing the crutches about and that was generally the positive thing we could do."
Four years later, Shaw’s resurgence is almost complete as he prepares to step out onto the pitch — only this time he will be playing, not watching.
He has enjoyed arguably his finest season since joining the club, staying largely free of injury with 32 league appearances and can look forward to starting Manchester United’s Europa League final against Villarreal on Wednesday.
It was only last summer that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sanctioned a £16m deal to sign Alex Telles from FC Porto, which put his place at left-back under question. But there has been no battle for the starting spot — Shaw has made it his own.
There was some surprise that, in a season where Bruno Fernandes has scored 27 goals from midfield, Shaw was the pick for the Players’ Player of the Year. But the turnaround has been nothing short of spectacular.
It is incredible to think this is the same player who turned up at United’s Carrington complex late for training because his mother had forgotten to wake him up, causing him to oversleep.
The same player who was so out of shape that, during United’s pre-season tour of Perth last summer, he was filmed from afar being lapped by one of the club’s fitness coaches.
The same player player who ex-United boss Jose Mourinho once claimed not to know anything about because he was so “far” from being available for first-team selection.
Mourinho can often be accused of being too harsh in his scolding of his players, but his attack on Shaw's fitness seemed legitimate.
“I cannot compare the way he trains [with team-mates], the way he commits, the focus, the ambition. He is a long way behind,” Mourinho said in 2017.
These comments only echoed what Roy Hodgson revealed he had discussed with Louis van Gaal when he was in charge of England back in 2014 and pointed to a concerning pattern.
But when the next pre-season came about, Shaw set about shedding some weight and even finished top of the club's pre-season fitness tests. It was an astonishing turnaround for a player who appeared to be on his way out just months before.
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This new chiseled version of Shaw comes as no surprise for Solskjaer, who has been a firm motivator in enabling the 25-year-old to fulfil his enormous potential.
"Luke has immense quality," Solskjaer said back in January.
"He has got very good technique. You see the few times against Liverpool he takes the ball and drives forward. It is something that I’ve pushed him more to do because we know he can do it.”
While Mourinho’s tough love approach failed to resonate with Shaw, Solskjaer’s softer approach seems to have ignited something within the defender.
"It is about seeing everyone as individuals and human beings,” he added.
“I did spend a lot of time speaking to individuals and Luke as well. He is a boy I enjoy talking to, I enjoy trying to help him. He wants to be better.
"It was about getting him to enjoy his football. We know his talent, but it was trusting his fitness, injury-wise, having players who can back him up.”
Those who have watched United this season have seen the difference in Shaw. When he charges up the left flank, very few can catch him and his energy is infectious.
Not only that, his passing range is superb and with his confidence overflowing, he plays with a swagger that never seemed likely under Mourinho or Louis van Gaal.
More importantly, perhaps, is the change is perception from the fans. Shaw admits that he heard voices telling him to go elsewhere during the most adverse period of his career.
"I always believed that I would be able to do it," Shaw told the Manchester Evening News.
"There were maybe people who were saying, when I was going through the bad times when I wasn't playing, people were telling me to get out of there and go and play somewhere else.
"No one wants to leave the biggest club in the world and I believe there was a reason why I was brought here and I didn't want to leave and not show what I can do. I dug in deep, I didn't let anyone affect me.”
Now, he is very much seen as a player representing the fans. When United joined the European Super League, Shaw was one of the few players to speak in public about his lack of desire to play in it.
Even last week, he promised to help a fan who had reached out on Twitter after he was excluded from the stadium for throwing a green and gold scarf at Shaw as he went to take a corner.
He had taken it in good jest and the action brought cheers from several areas of the ground, but the club’s security staff thought differently. But as a man of the people, Shaw pledged to set things right.
Shaw is a different character now and he partly credits his long-term relationship with partner, Anouska, and being a father to 18-month son, Reign, as the reasons behind it.
No longer is he the shy, injured forgotten man but rather, one of the leading figures at the club. He has been named in Gareth Southgate's 33-man England squad for Euro 2020 to highlight his importance.
If United win in Poland on Wednesday night, you can expect him to be front and centre of the celebrations — he’s earned it.
