Shaw doing family proud

Luke Shaw has been turning in performances to make the whole nation proud but there’s one person he’s especially keen to impress. 

The left-back was at his scintillating best against Germany; involved in both goals and helping to keep a fourth consecutive clean sheet at the tournament. 

Sadly his assist for Raheem Sterling’s opener came after his son Reign’s bedtime, meaning he wasn’t in the crowd to see it live. 

But Shaw is determined to make sure he has a vast showreel to show his son once he’s grown up. 

“I wish he was a bit older so he could understand it a bit more but I miss him so much and he wasn’t at the game the other night because he needs to be in bed by a certain time,” said Shaw, on Thursday’s episode of Lions’ Den connected by EE. 

“Hopefully I’ll be able to show him all of my experiences and what I’ve achieved when he’s a bit older. 

Shaw could barely keep the smile from wiping across his face while talking about his tournament experience so far but was able to put the parenting aspect of his life into perspective for fan Nico, who joined the show live via the EE fan wall. 

“When I’m at football and training and playing I have to be fully committed but when you step away you’ve got to try and forget about it and enjoy your time at home - it’s hard. 

“Being a parent is the best thing in the world and I’m very privileged to be a dad to the best son and I enjoy every moment. They grow up so quickly and change every day. I’m missing it a lot right now.” 

The 25 year old is representing England at his first major tournament since the 2014 World Cup and counts himself lucky to being so. 

Shaw was in and out of the Manchester United team in the build up to the original UEFA EURO 2020 start date but enjoyed an incredible 2020-21 season to cement his place in Gareth Southgate’s plans for this summer. 

And you can tell he’s relishing every moment of it. 

“Everything about the last day or two has been so good and I haven’t felt this happy in a long time. I’m hoping that all the fans feel the same way. 

“I’ve been through a lot of ups and downs especially during my time at Manchester United, so to get through all of that I needed to be mentally strong. 

“I needed to look at the bigger picture and look at my aims, which were always to prove people wrong. I still feel like I can improve but I’m on the right track now and just want to make people smile. 

“I think if the EUROs went ahead when they were supposed to then I wouldn’t have been here. But I sat down with my girlfriend and talked about what I wanted to achieve this season and one of them was getting back in the England squad. 

“I missed being a part of it, so to be here and representing my country at a major tournament is an amazing feeling and I’m really proud - hopefully we can achieve something special.”