Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw has been described as the best in England in his position, after being recalled to the national squad by Gareth Southgate.

Shaw signed for United at the age of 18, making him the most expensive teenager in the world at the time. There were high hopes for the defender, who was tipped to shine for club and country over the next 15 years.

However, as Shaw enters into his fourth year at United, he has never really hit the heights that were expected of him – and he has often been linked with a move away from Old Trafford.

The 23-year-old suffered a horrific broken leg back in 2015, an injury which kept him out for almost a year and almost certainly halted his progression.

He has received all sorts of public criticism from manager Jose Mourinho during his time as manager, but Shaw has shown plenty of character to get himself back into the first team picture for both club and country.

Shaw has started all three of United’s opening Premier League games, scoring his first ever senior goal against Leicester City. He has been a bright spark in an all round disappointing start to the season for the Red Devils, meriting a call up to Southgate’s squad for the upcoming Nations League games.

And Wright believes Shaw was right to be selected ahead of United team-mate Ashley Young at left-back.

“You can’t totally blame everything on the manager [Mourinho] – he hasn’t helped – but he himself needed to be a lot stronger in the way he was trying to get himself going and he seemed to shy away from it,” the former striker told The Debate.

“He needed to get through that, which he’s now done, and we’ve seen a different side to Shaw which I’m really impressed with. I just hope he can continue doing it because I think, on form, he probably is England’s best left-back.

“He came back early in pre-season to work on his fitness and he’s seeing the fruit of his labours now. What he’s done mentally too, I think we’re going to see a really good player from this point on. I thought he was good against Tottenham, going forward positively and it’s what you want.”

Former defender Danny Higginbotham agreed with Wright’s sentiments, saying Shaw could be in the England first team for the best part of a decade.

“I’m absolutely delighted. When he got that horrific injury against PSV, he was probably performing best on the pitch,” he said.

“The one thing everyone has said about Jose Mourinho is he was putting him down, but when they got beaten by Tottenham on Monday, who was the first player he went up to and put his arm around him?

“Shaw is a player I look at and think ‘he could be England’s left-back realistically for the next six or seven years. He’s a young player and he’s got everything. Hopefully now, fitness-wise, it’s about staying injury free and I think he’s an outstanding player.”