Former Arsenal and England left-back Nigel Winterburn says he doesn't envy Luke Shaw playing as a makeshift centre-half for Manchester United.

Shaw is being celebrated for the way he has handled being moved from left-back to central defence by United manager Erik ten Hag in recent games.

But for Winterburn, he admits he struggled when asked to do the same during is career.

Speaking to Tribalfootball.com on behalf of FreeSuperTips, the Gunners title winner said: "I think it's difficult to adapt.

"I don't necessarily want to say it's easier in modern day football because there isn't as many crosses into the box because it's a bit disrespectful.

"So, players can potentially do it, Kieran Tierney has done it for Arsenal in a back three before.

"Obviously, it can be done and Shaw has done it quite well when he's been asked to.

"Whether it will be his long-term position or not remains to be seen, but he has done tremendously well and at the weekend (against Manchester City) some of his positioning was outstanding."

As for playing at centre-half himself, Winterburn concedes it wasn't for him.

"It's happened before, but it's not something I wanted to do or particularly enjoyed doing.

"I was confident in the position I played so being moved into centre-half wasn't something I was keen on.

"Nowadays maybe the transition is slightly easier because you usually come up against one striker, but the movement is a lot sharper from forwards.

"That's just because the pitches are better, and players are evolving.

"It's hard to judge football from different times because the game has changed so much, but what I will say is that it's been done before.

"Certain players seem to be able to do it, I think you want to watch and see how it develops over six months to see if it could be something long term.

"But I have a sneaky feeling he'll go back to left-back."