Romelu Lukaku believes Luke Shaw ‘has been Manchester United’s player of the season’

Romelu Lukaku believes Luke Shaw has been Manchester United‘s player of the season and hailed the turnaround of the club’s defence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Norwegian has proven a popular appointment since replacing Jose Mourinho as caretaker until the end of the season in December, winning 11 of his first 14 games.

A return to the attacking brand of football that was abandoned under Mourinho has earned Solskjaer plenty of plaudits but four clean sheets in their last four domestic games has proven there is a newfound defensive solidity too. 

Romelu Lukaku has hailed the turnaround in Manchester United’s defence in recent weeks

The Belgian striker also insisted Luke Shaw has been the club’s player of the season so far

Under Solskjaer, United have conceded just nine goals in 14 games in all competitions. That is a vast improvement on the 35 in 24 let in under Mourinho towards the end of his tenure. 

Solskajer has also won 50 per cent of United’s 52 Premier League points in just 10 games. Mourinho needed 17 games to reach the 26-point mark before he was shown the door at Old Trafford.

That improvement was praised by Lukaku, who even went as fair as to name Shaw his player of the season already.

‘That’s what Ole wants,’ said Lukaku. ‘Everybody is talking about us being offensively really good, but defensively we’re doing really well.

Solskjaer has earned plenty of plaudits for four clean sheets in their last four domestic games

‘Chris Smalling coming in for the last couple of games has been brilliant and Luke Shaw has been the best player of the season for me.

‘Ashley Young has been consistent and David de Gea is the best number one in the world. From the midfield to the front, we try to help out and make sure the defence has an easy task. We did that [against Liverpool] and it was all about the team.

‘You always want to win these type of games, but for us it was about being mentally strong, having had players injured. We had to be resilient.

‘We had some chances, but it was all about mental strength and making sure we don’t lose and grab the point. Obviously you want to win, but now we have to move forward and focus on Wednesday.’

More to follow.