Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has revealed why he left Luke Shaw behind for the Europa League round-of-32 second leg against St Etienne.
Shaw, 21, has been overlooked in the United squad again and, despite being fit since mid-January, the left-back has made just one appearance since the end of November: against Wigan in the FA Cup fourth round.
The England defender started in three of United's Europa League games in the group stage, including November's 2-1 loss to Fenerbahce and 4-0 win over Feyenoord, but was injured for the final game against Zorya Luhansk. And Mourinho is not ready to hand him anything for free.
"He stayed behind in Manchester because I am playing with Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo, Matteo Darmian, and all of them are playing the way I like full-backs to play," Mourinho told a news conference.
"Luke has to wait for his chance, he has to work better and better, knowing that I give nothing for free. When I give something for the players it is expensive for me, it is not cheap.
"They have to work really hard every day, they have to play well, so he has to wait and in this moment he is behind the others.
"Potentially he has many things that I like, but one thing is potentially and another thing is on the pitch to express all the qualities I like a player to express. He has to keep working like [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan did for a long time."