With Paul Mitchell expected to join Manchester United as the first director of football of the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era, plenty of focus has already been placed on those he may look to reunite with at Old Trafford.
Perhaps the former Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton chief will return to Monaco – the club he left in October – and throw open the doors to Youssouf Fofana and Vanderson, two former Mitchell favourites who have already been linked with the Premier League giants (90Min).
But, amid all the talk of potential reunions, amid all the rumours and hear-say, it is all too easy to forget that Mitchell also has a past with one current member of the Manchester United squad.
Paul Mitchell bound for Manchester United?
Luke Shaw was merely a teenager when Mitchell arrived at St Mary’s in 2012. Just two years later, one of Europe’s most esteemed talentspotters would face one of the biggest tests of his still-burgeoning recruitment career, tasked with replacing a man who had just left Southampton for Manchester United while becoming world football’s most expensive teen in the process.
“I remember Luke at 17 or 18,” Mitchell would later tell The Telegraph, Shaw blossoming under Mauricio Pochettino before joining Man United in a record-breaking £27 million deal.
“He was a phenomenal athlete. He had power, strength, athleticism and was relentless up and down (the pitch) His output when it was measured was always in the top three and his work in the gym was also always in the top three.”
While former Saints coach Pochettino got most of the credit for Shaw’s rise to prominence, the role Mitchell played should not be underestimated.
Shaw and Mitchell reunited
“We recognised that there was an education piece around diet, nutrition and hydration that Luke needed support with,” Mitchell explains. “(Southampton) recognised that quickly and added that to a really detailed degree.
“There was that education in a good informal way for his growth and development. He then faced a long arduous process with a serious injury (picked up at United) but, after a difficult journey, we are now seeing the realisation of that talent.”
With Mitchell seemingly destined to take on the sporting director role at Old Trafford, his remit will likely include not only recruitment but also modernising and developing a club stuck in the post in almost every area, from the first-team to the academy.
As such, there could yet be more Luke Shaw’s who owe the early part of their careers to Paul Mitchell.
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