Just months after his Manchester United career appeared to be over, Anthony Martial's road to redemption under Erik ten Hag is set to continue on Thursday night.
Martial has struggled to scale the heights expected of him since arriving in the Premier League and things seemed destined to come to a head last year; the Frenchman had slowly become a peripheral figure under Ralf Rangnick and a temporary switch to Sevilla in January felt like a natural conclusion to Martial's Old Trafford career.
But Martial has made the most of a fresh start under Ten Hag, who has already confirmed that the striker is back in his plans following his recovery from an achilles injury.
After hailing the striker's impact in pre-season, Ten Hag told United's in-house media team: "We will take it careful, step by step in a process to bring him back, but he played now almost a half, so 35 minutes, which is good and now we have to extend that."
Martial bagged a brace after being introduced as a second-half substitute in last weekend's Manchester derby, and although Ten Hag has already made it clear that he will be treating the striker with extreme caution, it is expected that Martial will be given his first start of the season against Nicosia Omonia.
However, Ten Hag is likely to hand Martial a role on the left-hand side of Manchester United's attack rather than the No.9 berth he craves.
But there should be no cause for concern for Martial. Given the abundance of options Ten Hag has on his hands who can operate effectively on the left flank, such as Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Elanga, plus the fact that Martial himself has made it clear that he wants to play centrally, it seems very unlikely that Martial is being groomed as a long-term option on the wing.
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In terms of rotating his squad, the Europa League has provided Ten Hag a handy platform to give Cristiano Ronaldo minutes after deciding to persevere with Rashford as the club's first-choice No.9 so far this term.
And while it is likely that Ronaldo will lead the line again in Cyprus against Omonia, it is Martial who could become Ten Hag's first-choice centre-forward role in the coming months, particularly given the contrast in he and Rashford's performances at the Etihad.
Speculation over Ronaldo's long-term future has been rife since he expressed a desire to quit the club in the summer, and talk of a move away in January has intensified this week. Ten Hag admitted this week that he's been "p***** off" while not playing.
Martial was utilised, and thrived, as a No.9 in pre-season and would have probably got the nod to start the season ahead of Ronaldo and Rashford had he been fit.
With Martial back in the frame, Ronaldo's chances of being undisputed first choice for the Dutchman appear even slimmer. It's hard to see Ronaldo accepting a diminished role for the remainder of the season giving that the clock is ticking on his illustrious career, while Martial - despite a number of false dawns during his United career so far - seems to be taking on board what Ten Hag is asking for.
If Ten Hag does have designs on making Martial a key part of his plans, then it makes it far more likely that Ronaldo will be given an opportunity to pursue a move elsewhere, sooner rather than later.
