Raphael Varane will be able to show his best this season, says Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, who adds that the Frenchman's fitness will be "a huge boost".
The veteran centre-back arrived at Old Trafford last term to partner Harry Maguire, but a run of injuries saw him muster just 22 league games in all, robbing United of some much-needed stability at the back.
While England international Maguire often shouldered much of the ire, supporters were also left frustrated by Varane's fitness issues, and wondered what role he would play this term under new management, particularly with the arrival of Lisandro Martinez.
But Ten Hag believes having the World Cup winner at full fitness will only aid his squad, adding that he constructed a specialised pre-season training plan in order to help bolster the 29-year-old's prospects.
"[I'm] 100% convinced [we'll see his best]," the Dutchman stated ahead of his side's Premier League opener against Brighton and Hove Albion.
"During pre-season, we built a careful and individual training plan. In the last three weeks, he has been involved in every session on the pitch, I am really happy about that.
"You see him growing, his fitness levels and also his performance levels. I am happy about that as, at the moment, Rapha will be fit and it is a huge boost for both the squad and the team."
Elsewhere, Ten Hag addressed his desire to balance both a commitment to victory and an appreciation for attractive football, after United struggled for both results and flair last term under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.
"A Dutchman, they always want to play attractive football," he said. "That's why I am here and I like it. You want to win, but you also want to win in a certain way, being proactive, brave and with adventure.
"That is also what belongs to the culture of Man Utd, we want to bring it in but, at the end of the day, if you cannot win in a good way or an entertaining way, you still have to win.
"That is the mentality and the attitude that we have to bring in. Of course, there will be games where you will not play well but you still have to win."
Silva grateful Fulham's dominance was rewarded with late win
Marco Silva believes Fulham claimed a "deserved win" against Brentford, though admits they should have secured the three points much earlier in their 2-1 victory.
It looked like Vitaly Janelt's 24th-minute strike against the run of play was going to wrap up all three points for Brentford, but Harry Wilson proved the Cottagers' hero off the bench, scoring twice in stoppage time to snatch the three points.
Fulham had dominated from the first whistle and had 26 shots, 12 of which were on target, though they struggled to find a way past their opponents' staunch defence until the 92nd minute.
Wilson became just the sixth player to score an equalising and match-winning goal from the 90th minute onwards in the Premier League, while his second goal was Fulham's latest-ever Premier League winner at 96:46.
Silva was delighted with how his team pushed until the final seconds to ensure they came away with a win.
"It was definitely a deserved win. We started on the front foot and dominated all the game. In the first 20 minutes, we had two clear chances to score," Silva told BBC Sport.
"After they scored, we didn't lose the confidence and the trust in ourselves, we kept pushing them back, and we created enough to not be losing at half-time.
"I told the players this is football, it can happen, but we have to keep pushing, working hard and playing our way.
"It was late, it should've been much before, but that's football."
Brentford, meanwhile, have now dropped a league-high 14 points from winning positions in the Premier League as they suffered a fifth consecutive away defeat in the competition.
In fact, they are the first side in the competition's history to score the first goal in four consecutive away games and lose all four.
They had defended resolutely until their late lapse in concentration, and even had a chance to win it, only for Bernd Leno's impressive save to keep out Fabio Carvalho in the 95th minute.
Thomas Frank, though, admitted he was not yet ready to take the positives from the performance after the disappointment of their late defeat.
"It was tough. It is emotionally very tough right now," Frank told Sky Sports.
"When you are leading in the 92nd minute, and you lose, it is tough. I don't think we hit our highest level. I think on the day Fulham were better.
"There was a lot of good defending and effort, and I thought that would have given us the win. We could have won it with the chance for Fabio Carvalho and then we lost.
"When we look at the game back, and we are more cool-headed, we will probably be very happy with the defensive standard. I thought there were unbelievable blocks, and recovery runs and all that we did well. On the ball, we didn't do enough."
Guardiola expecting challenging season for injury-hit Man City
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City's current injury problems will make it harder for them to repeat the success of recent years.
Depleted by a number of injuries to key players, the Premier League champions saw a 32-game unbeaten league run ended by a loss at Bournemouth on Saturday after a midweek reverse at Tottenham in the EFL Cup fourth round, marking the first time City have lost successive matches in all competitions since September 2023.
While Guardiola says he is aware of the expectations surrounding his team, he knew they were likely to suffer more defeats due to injuries and the increasing level of their opponents.
"I know our standards, but we've lost just one game. Maybe we are going to lose again in the Premier League against Brighton and against Tottenham and against Liverpool," Guardiola told reporters, referring to their next three Premier League games.
"We are just two points behind Liverpool, who are a top-class team. We've started well in the Champions League, but I know people expect us to win 38 league games and win the treble every season as these are our standards.
"The reason it is difficult is because we have had a lot of absentees, which can happen in some seasons.
"Sometimes, to win the treble, everything has to be on the same page with injuries, but this is not possible this time. The teams are very strong and everything is more difficult, and we have to accept that. That is the challenge."
City will be without Ballon d'Or winner Rodrigo and Oscar Bobb for most of the campaign, while John Stones, Jack Grealish and Ruben Dias remain sidelined and have not travelled to Portugal.
Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker still have problems despite being in the squad, Guardiola said, and Kevin De Bruyne and Savinho are improving, while Erling Haaland is fit.
City sit third in the Champions League standings after two wins and a draw and are looking for a third consecutive European win at Portuguese champions Sporting CP, who are eighth but also have seven points and are unbeaten across all competitions this season.
Guardiola's side claimed a resounding 5-0 win at Sporting when they met in the 2022 Champions League last 16, and are looking to extend their record run of unbeaten games to 27 in the competition.
"They play quite similar like we faced two seasons ago, the pattern is so clear," Guardiola added.
"They have changed players but have the same manager and same mentality," he said, referring to Sporting boss Ruben Amorim, who will take over at Manchester United at the start of the international break.
Neymar suffers fresh injury blow
Neymar sustained a new injury as he was forced off during Al-Hilal's AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.
Aleksandar Mitrovic plundered a hat-trick on Monday to seal a 3-0 win.
But Al-Hilal's victory was soured by an injury to Neymar, who had to make way just 29 minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.
The Brazilian, who has just returned from over a year out of action following a serious knee injury, was forced off with what appeared to be a thigh issue.
Indeed, Monday's appearance was only the 32-year-old's second for Al-Hilal since his comeback.
He has featured just seven times for the Saudi Pro League champions in all competitions since his big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
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