Phil Jones is set to start in central defence for Manchester United against Borussia Dortmund on Friday, manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed.
The 24-year-old England defender has not started for United's first team since suffering an ankle injury in the 2-1 win over Swansea City at Old Trafford on Jan. 2.
His only game time since then has been in appearances as an overage player for the under-21s, then as a second-half substitute in the 2-0 friendly victory away against Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
Mourinho told MUTV: "In the other match [against Wigan], I started with [Eric] Bailly and [Daley] Blind as central defenders. Tomorrow, I shall start with Bailly and Jones, to see different things, and we will try for the best result, but that is not the most important thing."
Jones' gradual recovery will be another boost for United's defence, who have already been helped by Luke Shaw's comeback. The left-back faced Wigan on Saturday after a 10-month absence due to a double leg break.
The United manager hinted that he will experiment with systems during the game against Dortmund, who he expects to be in better shape than his own team.
He said: "I want to see the different formations and different players in different positions with different combinations.
"They [Dortmund] are a team that has played five matches and a team that has five matches in their legs. They started training a couple of weeks before us and they didn't have so many players like we did in the Copa America and the Euros."