Anthony Martial has handed Manchester United a major boost ahead of Thursday's crunch Europa league tie away to Real Sociedad.
Martial, who has missed 13 of United's 17 games this season with different injuries, has returned to training and is in contention for the final group game. United must beat La Real by at least two clear goals in order to top Group E and go straight through to the last 16 stage, avoiding a play-off game in the last 32.
Failure to top the group could hand Erik ten Hag's side an unenviable last 32 tie against the likes of Barcelona, Juventus, Ajax and Atletico Madrid, all of whom have dropped into the competition from the Champions League.
With Cristiano Ronaldo absent from United’s pre-season tour, Martial was given a chance to stake a claim for a starting role and impressed the new boss. He appeared to be the frontrunner to lead the line, only for his familiar injury struggles to return.
The French international’s last appearance came against Everton last month, where after registering an assist he came off with a back injury. Speaking after the win at Goodison Park, Ten Hag admitted his disappointment at Martial’s continued fitness issues.
"I've had several talks about that with him, really disappointed for him,” he explained. "From the quality, all the minutes he played, he played well, even Sunday with the assist for Antony, the pressing was good, he was an important factor and played well.
“But obviously, he fell out and it's disappointing for him and disappointing for the team as well.
“Of course, I want every player to be available, sometimes it's disappointing when they're not available, especially with all the games coming up and when they're not available you have to deal with the situation and I focus on the players available."
As well as Martial, Ten Hag can call upon United skipper Harry Maguire, who returned to the starting line-up for Sunday's 1-0 victory over West Ham, with the injured Raphael Varane ruled out for the remainder of games before the break for the World Cup.
Victor Lindelof was ill at the weekend, while winger Antony was missing with a knock, although Ten Hag is hopeful both can travel to Spain today. "I think they will recover but I can't tell you any more," said Ten Hag.
"We have to see what develops in the coming days and how they progress but I hope, when we go to Spain, everyone is on board. We need them all. There are still four games to go in a short period. You see it's tough for all teams, but also for us, we need 11 players and we need the squad to cover everything."
