Luke Shaw is available for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game in charge of Manchester United, as it emerged that the left back had one final bust-up with Jose Mourinho.
Shaw, 23, was left out of Mourinho’s last two match-day squads, defeats at Valencia and Liverpool, after pulling up with a back spasm in the warm-up before the win over Fulham on December 8.
His decision to declare himself unfit for that game annoyed Mourinho.
Sportsmail understands the pair did not speak for the remainder of the Portuguese coach’s time at Old Trafford.
Mourinho, who was sacked on Tuesday, had been at pains to raise his side’s chronic injury problems in the lead-up to his last two matches at the helm.
He did not refer to Shaw by name, but it was assumed the England international was struggling with his fitness alongside eight other first-team regulars.
In fact, Shaw was fit for both games, but did not join a threadbare travelling party to Valencia that included rookie teenagers James Garner and Mason Greenwood.
That is believed to have been a direct consequence of missing the Fulham victory.
Mourinho went on to bemoan the number of injuries after the lacklustre 3-1 defeat by Liverpool.
He pointedly praised the attitude and honesty of those players “on the pitch”, citing Victor Lindelof, Matteo Darmian, Diogo Dalot and Ashley Young as all making themselves available despite knocks or lack of training.
Now Shaw is looking to kick on under Solskjaer, who takes United to former employers Cardiff City on Saturday.
Getting into the #MUFCxmas spirit! #MUFC🎄 pic.twitter.com/yHf3EgMapi
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) December 19, 2018
Shaw revealed last month that United’s players needed “a thick skin to play under this manager and for this club”, while Mourinho suggested he was not mature enough in an interview days later.
Mourinho said: “When we talk about Shaw, Martial, Lingard, Rashford, we’re talking about kids with great potential, but still lack a word I can’t say, but that you like a lot... they lack a bit of that.”