Erik ten Hag unveils Luke Shaw admission, hails Raphael Varane after Nottingham Forest win

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag confirmed Luke Shaw told him he could play as a centre-back as he heaped praise on Raphael Varane after the Nottingham Forest win.

Man United recorded their third win in a row in all competitions following their comfortable 3-0 win over Nottingham on Tuesday night in the Premier League.

And the Red Devils did that with Luke Shaw as a centre-back due to the absences of Victor Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez. Harry Maguire was only fit enough to make the bench after recovering from an illness.

Shaw played the centre-back role superbly and helped Manchester United keep their second consecutive clean sheets in all competitions.

Ten Hag has revealed it was Shaw who gave him the green light to start him alongside Raphael Varane at the heart of the defence, thanks to the conversation they had last week.

Speaking after the win over the Tricky Trees, the Dutchman said: “Shaw told me last week he can play there [left centre-back] and said to put him in there. He played there really well, he looked really experienced and composed and it was a really good performance from him.”

Varane was poised on missing the game due to his World Cup holidays but he made a shock start for the Red Devils and performed brilliantly.

On the former Real Madrid defender, Erik ten Hag said: “Rapha [Varane] shows once again his great personality, the standard he is giving Manchester United — I had a problem in the centre-half position and he took the responsibility and played really well and was important for our team.”

Martinez missed the game due to match fitness. Maguire came on as a second half substitute. Lindelof missed the game due to an illness. The same goes for Scott McTominay.