Jose Mourinho has told Eric Bailly to remain patient at Manchester United.
The Ivorian was Mourinho's first signing at Old Trafford when he arrived in a £30m deal from Villarreal.
Bailly impressed early in his United career but has found himself out of favour this term.
He didn't feature for around two months before last week's draw with Arsenal and was back out of the squad for the win over Fulham on Saturday.
Bailly's absence has led to speculation that he could be allowed to leave Old Trafford in January with Arsenal among the sides thought to be monitoring his situation.
But the Guardian reports Mourinho assured Bailly he has bright future at United after talks in training on Monday.
The United boss is happy with the defender and told him that regular football will come.
Bailly is set to return to the starting line-up for the clash with Valencia on Wednesday and will hope to feature at Liverpool on Sunday.
Jose Mourinho has rung the changes for the trip to Spain with a host of first-team stars left at home.
Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling have injury problems and haven't travelled while the likes of Diogo Dalot, David De Gea and Nemanja Maic have been rested.
Oceania
210
What is the deal with Bailly? Last season united fans were telling everyone who would listen he was one of the best in the league and this season he seems to not be playing much.
limited
205
Bailly got dropped because he's still mistake prone and Smalling/Lindelof started playing good together. People seem to forget how fucking young Bailly still is for a defender, defenders don't reach their full potential until their late 20's usually and their prime careers live on to 33-34. Bailly is our best defender but he's still very mistake prone and we don't need that kind of risk at the moment. Not to mention his recurring injuries.
zeoabilmyz
171
Bailly is a dependable defender , it's just unfortunate he finds himself somewhat entangled with bench role of later after his blistering start to life at Old Trafford. Nevertheless, after this timely assurance from reborn JM , guess he will be bursting with confidence in a bid to reclaim his first team position. Good luck Bailly .
calvinrashy
164
Our back four isn't constant, and it is because he doesn't trust in the ones he puts and can't play 3 straight games without being benched in either or both of the remaining. Nowadays we United want world class players in particular defenders, but you can't go get a Godin form Atletico or a Maguire from Leicester who will tire you out. We are lucky that we got Bailly who is already used to it here in England, but he can't perform without the managers trust, if he makes a mistake then he is out, that is how it works with Mourinho but replacing him is not the solution or any of our other center backs, they can perform but only if you show them that you can stand by them. Or just get young talent, those are the only to options i see.