For a player who appears to have lost his spot in Toronto FC’s starting 11, midfielder Collen Warner remains very upbeat about his prospects with the Reds in 2015.

The Denver native was traded to Toronto from the Montreal Impact last May and he quickly established himself as a regular in TFC’s starting lineup for the remainder of the 2014 MLS campaign. Warner ended up making 20 appearances (19 as a starter) and collected two assists playing alongside Michael Bradley in the heart of midfield.

Warner, now 26, impressed in his first season in Toronto with his distribution and physical presence, winning praise from fans, pundits and coaches alike. He was one of the few players who looked consistent over time and who could hold his head high after another ill-fated year for TFC.

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But that didn’t stop management from going out this off-season and signing free-agent Benoit Cheyrou, a veteran French midfielder who previously played for Olympique Marseille and has UEFA Champions League experience. The expectation is that Cheyrou, 33, will partner Bradley in central midfield, relegating Warner to a supporting role.

Warner, to his great credit, isn’t whining about the demotion, and instead heralded the signing of Cheyrou as an important move by Toronto, who open the regular season on the road this Saturday versus the Vancouver Whitecaps.

“Benoit is a great addition to the club. He has a lot of experience from a top European league, so that can only be good for us as a team,” Warner told Sportsnet. “Obviously there’s going to be competition between him and myself for playing time, but it’s not something I’m focused on.

“There are a lot of chances for me to grow and develop as a player here—not only did I learn from Michael last year but now with Benoit here, I can learn from him and it’s something I want to take advantage of to get better. I’m confident that if I continue on in my trajectory that I can be big part of this team.”

So what does Warner see as his role, then?

“I’m a player who can come in and give the team a lot of energy and calm on the ball,” Warner offered. “The coaches recognize that I’ve been playing at a higher level when I came into pre-season camp. As long as that’s the case then I feel like I’m doing my part.”

Indeed, coach Greg Vanney commented back in January that Warner was the one the fittest TFC players on the first day of training camp. That wasn’t by accident, as Warner and Toronto teammate Justin Morrow spent 10 days training with Bundesliga club Werder Bremen last off-season. He also spent the majority of the winter back home working out with the Colorado Rush, his former youth team, and at the University of Denver.

Warner characterized his brief training stint in Germany as “high intensity,” and said there was incredible competition among the Bremen players during routine drills. That high intensity has helped him adapt to training sessions under Vanney, who is trying to implement a new playing style.

“It’s not a specific system or functionality that you could say was different from before. It’s more of a change in philosophy and the way we want to approach games. We want to be a more dominant team, a more controlling team,” Warner explained.

“That takes a different mindset and a different overall disposition to the game because (under former coach Ryan Nelsen) we were reactionary and counterattacking. Now it’s more proactive and opening up areas we want to exploit, and dictating the match.”

Cheyrou is just one of several newcomers to Toronto, who spent the off-season adding pieces up front (Jozy Altidore and Robbie Findley), in midfield (Sebastian Giovinco) and in defence (Damien Perquis and Erik Zavaleta. But the key to success for Toronto in 2015, according to Warner, will be the spine of the club that was already in place,

“When you look down the middle, we’ve stayed pretty congruent form last year with (Steven) Caldwell and (Nick) Hagglund and all the way up to midfield with Michael (Bradley) and Jonathan (Osorio), and then bringing Jozy (Altidore) back to MLS. Even though there have been a lot of changes, there’s a lot of familiarity and tactical understanding,” Warner said.