Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag says there is a ‘fire burning’ within Leny Yoro to recover from his early injury setback.

Yoro impressed when he made his first appearance for United against Rangers in pre-season, despite having had just one training session with his new teammates at that stage.

The young defender arrived from Lille for €62m plus €8m in add-ons last month and was set to play a prominent role at the start of the new campaign, but disaster struck in Yoro’s second game of pre-season when he fractured his metatarsal against Arsenal in Los Angeles.

Yoro has undergone successful surgery to address that injury and he’s expected to return to action in around three months, which means he should be available in October.

On Wednesday, Ten Hag sat down with Sky Sports at Carrington and was asked about how Yoro is dealing with his setback. “This is one of the reasons why we signed him, he’s very mature and has a great personality. He is dealing with it [the injury], looking forward and being bright,” he said.

“He is being positive. He’s already started his rehab. There is a fire burning there and as I’ve said, for his age he is very mature. He won’t get distracted and he knows what he wants.

“He knows what he wants to go and I’m sure he’ll be returning as soon as possible and will be supportive of the team winning games and trophies.

“You [the players] need heart and you need head, both traits are very important, so we need both things right to form a team and in a team you need different skillsets, but personality, mentality and character are very important to construct a winning team.”

The club’s scouts, new football structure and Ten Hag agreed that Yoro would be an excellent addition and multiple meetings were held with the player to convince him to sign.

Yoro will wear the No.15 shirt, which was previously worn by Sergio Reguilon during his loan stint last season, and supporters are already looking forward to his return to fitness.

Ten Hag was also asked about the appointment of Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was appointed as his assistant manager this summer as part of the backroom staff shake-up.

“Of course, strikers can take benefit from him because he was such a great striker, he scored so many goals, he had so much success, so definitely he’ll help the strikers in different areas,” said Ten Hag.

“But definitely, on the mental side, he will bring his desire to win games by scoring goals. I have strong belief in the person, strong belief in his skills, to help our team score goals.

“But also to help our team working as a team that means we’re attacking as an 11, and in the end, he’s the one who finished but he was part of 11 players. So we have to defend with 11 players and the front players are the first defenders.”

It’s understood Van Nistelrooy has been helping to coach United out of possession since he returned to Manchester, where he spent five years as a player.