As Manchester United prepare for their fourth league game, the club's internationals are safely back in training. One who is almost certain to start at Stoke on Saturday is Antonio Valencia, even after making a trans-Atlantic flight from Quito following his country's awful home defeat to Peru that left them eighth in the 10-team group.

Valencia, the man who's been captain for every United game and played every minute in a defence that has yet to concede a goal, has started this season in the form that won him the player's player of the year award last term. While his country struggle, his club surge and one of the smartest moves Jose Mourinho made as United boss was one of his first. Soon after arriving at Old Trafford in 2016, he pulled Valencia aside for a little chat in training.

Valencia speaks better English than he admits in public, though he was content to be filmed saying: "This is my friend, Eric Bailly, the best centre-back in the world" on the club's U.S. preseason tour. Mourinho spoke to him in Spanish. Valencia hadn't heard from his new manager since he arrived and was uncertain of his future. Mourinho told him that he wanted him as his right-back and that he wanted to sign him when he was at Real Madrid. Valencia's confidence soared immediately, beginning in the preseason game against Galatasaray in Istanbul that summer.

While Mourinho was certain, Valencia had reason to doubt. He'd missed much of the previous season with an ankle injury and featured in only 22 games. While he'd played more as a right-back than any other position under Louis van Gaal, he still didn't see himself settling into that role. When I asked Valencia his favourite position in 2015 after he'd played twice as many games at right-back the previous season than right midfield, he replied: "I like to play forward on the right. [Sir Alex] Ferguson and [David] Moyes used me there. And Van Gaal too, but also more in defence. That's where I think I'm best, beating players and crossing to the forwards."

As he spoke, the expectations were that Matteo Darmian, United's new Italy international right-back, would occupy his natural position, but that didn't quite go to plan.

It was Mourinho who made Valencia believe, giving him the guarantee that if he concentrated and remembered that his first role was as a defender, he'd play him every minute of every game. It wasn't a restrictive role for a man who'd prefer to attack, as Mourinho told him that he wanted him to enjoy freedom going forward. A double responsibility, then, but one that the Ecuador international, who grew up idolising Italy's Francesco Totti and Argentina's Boca Juniors, was happy to take.

Valencia played 43 times for United last season and it would have been more had he not been rested for the last four games ahead of the Europa League final, where he was club captain, just as he'd been in both semifinals against Celta Vigo. Only Michael Carrick has been at United longer, and Valencia sees himself as a senior player, who looks after new arrivals by giving them his number or taking them out for dinner, especially if they speak Spanish.

Mourinho is happy with the consistency he gets from Valencia in a side that has undergone changes. United's No. 25 is experienced and opponents hate playing against him because he's fast, strong and never appears to tire. He's not perfect, though; he does want to improve his left foot. Darmian is now the club's reserve right-back, a versatile option for his manager who likes him but doesn't see him as the man to start ahead of Valencia on the right or Daley Blind on the left. Darmian struggled in his one game when he played as a central defender against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup, but he's still starting every game for Italy, if not his club.

While Mourinho is satisfied with the right-back position, the left-back is a position he wants to sort out this season. Blind is fine there at the moment, with Luke Shaw expected to come back and compete for a place, too, but what Mourinho will settle on is unclear.

Antonio Valencia is one of Man United's undisputed leaders and has earned the confidence of teammates and managers. John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

There's none of that at right-back, where Valencia plays every week, though there will be an awkward situation next month when Valencia is expected to make his 91st and 92nd Ecuador appearances (he was only 18 when first called up to the senior squad in 2003) in World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Argentina. If the faltering side (who have lost their past four games, including the two in this international break against Brazil and Peru) win, they could finish fifth and face New Zealand in a World Cup playoff on Nov. 6. Valencia would miss the game against Chelsea on Nov. 5, though it's a big if given Ecuador's current form.

Valencia still plays a more advanced role on the right for his country, but other traits remain of the player Sir Alex Ferguson described as "brave as hell."

"You couldn't intimidate Valencia," said Ferguson. "He's a boy from the favela who has scrapped all his life. Tough as anything. In a 50-50, he would be right in there arms across the opponent."

That's usually true, but Valencia, a confidence player, wasn't always as consistent as he is now and notably froze in the 2011 Champions League final. "He was nervous as hell," recalled Ferguson. "We never really attacked their left-back."

Mourinho has filled him with confidence, trusts him with the captain's armband and both manager and player are happy. Valencia was not happy under Van Gaal, but since then, he's become so settled in Manchester with his family that he's considering staying in the city after he's stopped playing. His daughter was only a month old when the family arrived in England from Ecuador, but while Wayne Rooney, whom Valencia rated very highly, saw his performances drop significantly in his early 30s, Valencia feels he can go on "being the same Antonio that I've been in recent seasons."

Valencia already has won nine trophies in eight years at Old Trafford. He thinks his 10th can be a third league title. Win at Stoke, where United have frequently been poor, and such ambitions will seem more realistic.