Despite all of the hype about Gareth Southgate's decisions being validated, it's still strange to imagine that he chose Kieran Trippier above Luke Shaw for the Euro 2020 opening against Croatia.
After getting his chance against Scotland, the Manchester United defender was chastised by voices outside the England camp for not bombing forward.
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In that stalemate with the Scots, Shaw was more reliable than remarkable. Since then, he's been nothing short of extraordinary.
He marauded forward and produced chances against the Czech Republic and Germany. He was running overlaps. He made a significant contribution.
He made a significant contribution. All the while, he looked strong on the left-hand side with club partner Harry Maguire, securing his side of the pitch.
Shaw took another step forward at the Stadio Olimpico, where José Mourinho will manage Roma in Serie A next season, and helped his team defeat Ukraine to reach the semi-finals.
During his time at United, Mourinho was harsh on the former Southampton left-back, accusing him of being unhealthy and lacking the intelligence to be a great defender. Even when Shaw performed admirably under Mourinho's tutelage, the Portuguese would credit him with personally mentoring him through games from the bench.
Under Gareth Southgate, Shaw was out of the England picture for significant periods of time. Even when he began to routinely put in excellent performances for United, he failed to reclaim his place in the international picture.
DON'T MISS:
Southgate eventually couldn't ignore him any longer. Shaw had a strong season with United and was expected to play at left-back for the team at Euro 2020. Southgate took his time this time, but he made the right decision in the end.
While looking defensively solid again against Ukraine, he came up with big plays in critical times.
For two of England's goals - Harry Maguire's header and Harry Kane's second - Shaw's deliveries into the box were so good that scoring was made easy.
Shaw now has three assists at Euro 2020 [joint second] and is just one behind top creator Steven Zuber of Switzerland. He has created eight goal-scoring chances for England too - no other player in that star-studded squad has come close.
If you needed to know anything about what his teammates thought of Shaw, you only needed to look at their reaction when he was subbed off, after 63 minutes and with England 4-0 up.
Maguire, Kane, Raheem Sterling and Kalvin Phillips all approached him as he jogged off. Jordan Henderson showed a nice burst of pace to do likewise.
Mobbed by five of his teammates and the back slapped off him, he was finally delivering on the promise that so many saw in him, back in February 2014, when he made his senior England debut, at 18.
Mourinho is on punditry duty for this tournament, so it will be fascinating to see if he offers Shaw and crumbs of comfort.
If he does or doesn't, Shaw is winning the war right now.
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