Amorim described Shaw as “world class” in Chicago last week.
The assessment was passed on to the 30-year-old almost immediately in the belief it would give his confidence a boost.
Shaw said he is currently in a good place, but there have been plenty of times over the past two years when that has not been the case.
After missing three months with a muscular injury at the start of the 2023-24 campaign, he suffered another problem in a game at Luton in February 2024.
Shaw recovered enough to start for England in that summer’s Euros final but did not start a game for United until 27 April, 2025 – a gap of 14 months. During that time, Erik ten Hag was sacked and Amorim struggled to fill the left-sided defensive berth crucial to his system.
“I don’t want to keep banging on about it but I couldn’t have got any lower last season,” said Shaw.
“I know I’ve had a lot of injuries but, mentally, last season was really tough.
“I’ve never had a calf injury in my life, it was completely different rehab. Then stuff just kept happening. It was really stressful.
“I felt like I let Erik down because I wasn’t there for him towards the end and that wasn’t nice.
“For a lot of last season I felt like I let a lot of people in the club down. I found it really hard and put a lot of blame on myself.”
There is no doubt a fully fit Shaw would be a huge asset.
Amorim has tended to use him in the left of his three-man defence, where there is competition from 18-year-old Ayden Heaven, plus senior players Noussair Mazraoui and Lisandro Martinez, who are both currently injured.
Shaw could also play at left wing-back, although whether Amorim would risk him in such a physically demanding role is open to debate.
“I really like this formation,” he admitted. “I haven’t spoken about it too much with the manager, but I’m happy to play anywhere.
“I’ve been playing left centre-back this pre-season so we’ll have to see if that carries on. I missed last pre-season so I’m just really happy to be doing this one.”
