Mourinho confirms Shaw won't play against Saint-Etienne

The left-back hasn’t featured for Manchester United since January although will not be brought back into the team for Thursday’s Europa League tie

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Luke Shaw won’t feature in his starting XI for the meeting with Saint-Etienne.

The left-back has not featured for the United first team since the 4-0 FA Cup over Wigan Athletic back in January, while he his last league start came all the way back in October.

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Mourinho does not appear ready to bring him back in any time soon, though, insisting that he will stay with the same back four that started the 2-0 triumph over Watford on Saturday.

He told reporters: “He’s not playing tomorrow because my team is playing well and I am happy with my back four, and I’m going to repeat Valencia, Bailly, Smalling and Daley Blind.”

United host the Ligue 1 side in the Europa League last 32 first leg and, despite the potential for fixture congestion, Mourinho is adamant they will not “throw away” the competition.

He continued: “If you ask me if I want to beat Saint-Etienne and progress I say ‘yes’. We don’t throw away competitions. It’s harder that the match against Manchester City is postponed.

“If we win against Blackburn, the match against Southampton will be also postponed. In case it happens, it’s going to create many, many, many, many problems.

“Playing Thursday, we have never got a Monday fixture to have an extra day of rest. I know for example that Middlesbrough will be played at Sunday 12:00 so if we progress and get a difficult match we then have to play Middlesbrough on Sunday at 12.

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“It’s difficult also in the Premier League because others don’t have games. Liverpool only play Premier League, Chelsea play Premier League and FA Cup.

“We want to progress, tomorrow we go seriously and Sunday against Blackburn we go seriously too.”

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