Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has given a little assurance to fans over injured defender Luke Shaw.

The 20-year-old left back suffered a double fracture to his right leg last month, a bitter blow to the youngster who was arguably one of United’s in-form players at the time. The break immediately put the defender’s season in doubt, as well as his chances of representing England at Euro 2016. England manager Roy Hodgson previously expressed his belief in Shaw emulating Ashley Cole’s 100+ cap tender at left back for the Three Lions, and was full of praise for the £27m man.

However, despite all the doom and gloom that comes with a leg fracture, Louis van Gaal has given us all hope that the defender can recover quicker than expected.

Van Gaal revealed that Shaw is now walking with a brace as he continues his rehabilitation. The 20-year-old has been pictured on crutches in Manchester several times, and tweeted two weeks ago about returning to Carrington in order to receive further treatment.

The United boss has showed huge admiration to Shaw, heralding the left-back’s attitude as ‘fantastic’.

“He is already here every day, walking with a brace and starting his rehabilitation. It is unbelievable,” said Van Gaal.

“But he has a long way to go. At the moment, the progress is steep, but at the end it will be flat and that is difficult to maintain your mentality. But now he is fantastic.”

However, the Dutchman did warn against making assumptions too early, stating that the recovery still has a long way to go. Despite his upbeat attitude, Van Gaal admitted that he is still unsure if his player will represent his country at next year’s Euro’s:

“You can not say that now he can go,” Van Gaal added. “Like Roy Hodgson says 50-50 because it is possible, but it is dependent on the rehabilitation. Maybe there are complications, you never know, that happens a lot so we have to wait and see.”

[All quotes via the Mirror]