Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag praises Aaron Wan-Bissaka

Erik ten Hag has praised Aaron Wan-Bissaka for struggling to revive his Manchester United career after a disrupted start to the season.

Wan-Bissaka only played four minutes in the first four months of the season due to a combination of illness and injury.

It gave Diogo Dalot a chance to cement his position as Ten Hag’s first-choice right-back after impressing the new manager on the club’s pre-season tour of Bangkok and Australia.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka has impressed on his return to the Manchester United team this week

United manager Erik ten Hag has been impressed with Wan-Bissaka as he seeks competition

But Dalot picked up a hamstring injury for Portugal at the World Cup and Wan-Bissaka has done well in United’s first two games after the restart against Burnley in the Carabao Cup and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.

United have scored five goals without reply, with Wan-Bissaka setting up a goal for Christian Eriksen against Burnley and playing particularly well against Forest on Tuesday night in an unfamiliar defense that saw Luke Shaw make his first appearance as a centre-back.

The 25-year-old’s future at Old Trafford was in doubt last summer as the club would listen to proposals for him, and there is ongoing speculation he could return to Crystal Palace three and a half years after leaving Selhurst Park for United in a 50th season -Million pound move.

Full length of Wan-Bissaka as he crosses Christian Eriksen to score in the win over Burnley

The right-back celebrates with Eriksen after United opened the scoring in the 2-0 win

But with Ten Hag working on a tight budget in January and prioritizing a new striker, he is unlikely to start looking for new right-backs until next summer.

The United boss praised Wan-Bissaka for his return to form and fitness, saying: “First you have to be on the pitch and in the first half of the season he was either injured or ill so he didn’t play a role in the group.

Diogo Dalot was United’s first-choice right-back but suffered an injury at the World Cup

The 23-year-old defender now faces a battle to reclaim his place in United’s starting XI

“So I think the break was good for him. He’s back, he’s been to training camp in Spain and he’s been able to play a couple of games to prepare for the restart and now he’s playing two games and he’s doing really well so I’m happy with his performance.

“We need competition in the squad. He has to play in the team and then he can develop, then he can grow.”

Dalot now faces a battle to reclaim his place in the United starting line-up following impressive performances from Wan-Bissaka.