Bailly promised plenty of action in 2020/21
Eric Bailly is fit and available for Manchester United, with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer expecting the centre-back to get plenty of game-time during the upcoming season.
The Ivory Coast international is in contention to feature against Crystal Palace in Saturday's Premier League opener for the Reds at Old Trafford.
He did not play in our sole pre-season friendly against Aston Villa last weekend, with Tim Fosu-Mensah partnering Harry Maguire in the starting XI.
The 26-year-old was injured last summer but recovered in February to regain a place in the squad, starting with the Premier League victory away to Chelsea.
He played in three further league fixtures - wins over Manchester City and Bournemouth, and the 1-1 draw at Tottenham in our first game of Project Restart.
The defender finished on 11 appearances for the campaign following outings against LASK and FC Copenhagen in the Europa League.
"Don't forget Eric Bailly," Ole reminded MUTV's Stewart Gardner, when discussing his plans for 2020/21. "He missed up until February and missed more than half of the season.
“But he came back stronger and stronger and, towards the end of the season, he looked really strong.
“So I think we’ll see a lot of Eric. He’s looked really strong in training as well.”
The Reds have at least seven first-team central defenders on our books, although Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe are currently injured.
Club captain Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof made the most appearances last term, while Marcos Rojo and Chris Smalling have returned from loan spells with Estudiantes and Roma respectively.
Academy youngster Teden Mengi has impressed Ole and has been training regularly with the senior squad while Fosu-Mensah is also capable of operating in the middle, as he did at Villa Park.
The new season is here! Our 2020/21 home, away and third kits are available now from United Direct.