Aaron Wan-Bissaka has confessed he thought his time at Manchester United could be up last season after losing his spot under Erik ten Hag.
Ten Hag quickly named Diogo Dalot as his preferred right-back following his summer move to Old Trafford, meaning Wan-Bissaka fell to the bench. He would manage just four Premier League minutes before the World Cup break.
When club football returned, however, Wan-Bissaka forced his way back into Ten Hag's plans and ended the campaign as the preferred starter, and United are now expected to reward his good form with a new contract.
Speaking to The Times, Wan-Bissaka admitted he feared for his future at the club when he found himself out of the team.
"[I thought it] could be,” he said when asked if he thought his time at United was over. "You have that feeling."
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However, those same concerns proved to be the inspiration for Wan-Bissaka to force his way back into Ten Hag's starting lineup.
"I could say many things, but one is the setback of not playing," he explained. "I gained that hunger to fight for my position and the want to play, to impress the manager and help the team.
"It was a hard time and the only thing you can do during a hard time is keep working. I focused just on football. You can just sit there and complain about it and not care, or you can actually try, and I thought the best way was for me to try."
On his conversations with Ten Hag, Wan-Bissaka concluded: "The manager is straightforward. There’s a lot of one-on-one chats.
"He says what he wants, he has demands and we have to give that 100%. He wants me to be more aggressive going forward, be in the right places, even if you don’t get the ball, you open a space for someone else.
"I look at my [assist] stats. It would be good to push them numbers."
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This article was originally published on 90min as Aaron Wan-Bissaka admits fearing for Man Utd future last season.