Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof appears confident that he will get plenty of opportunities to play this season, despite not currently being a starter in Erik ten Hag’s strongest XI. The Swede is also embracing competition for places.

Lindelof is at the start of his sixth season with United but has had to come to terms with a new role as a back-up and squad player behind Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez since last summer.

Even so, neither centre-back had an injury-free run in 2022/23 and Lindelof still started 14 Premier League games – he was regularly favoured over Harry Maguire and is accepted to be the first alternative as defensive cover or additional solidity off the bench.

So far this season, Lindelof has already played 45 minutes in the Premier League after replacing Martinez at half-time against Wolves when the Argentine was flirting with an early red card.

"I think it is great to have competition for places," Lindelof told Sky Sports.

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"We have talked about the level that I want to be at and at this level there should be competition for places, otherwise it is not right.

"We are playing at the biggest club in the world, so there should be players who are competing for different positions. It is not a problem, I like it, and [Varane and Martinez] have been great together.

"When I've played, I think I have been performing as well. There are a lot of games in a season."

Manchester United have been in the market for a new centre-back this summer, holding talks with Bayern Munich over Benjamin Pavard prior to the German champions reaching an agreement with Inter. The collapse of Harry Maguire’s proposed move to West Ham and sudden expected stay could derail any further hopes of bringing in fresh defensive reinforcements.

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This article was originally published on 90min as Victor Lindelof welcomes competition for places at Man Utd.