Press conference

Will Denis Suarez start against Man City?

Denis Suarez has trained with his new teammates for the first time - but will he play alongside them on Sunday?

Unai Emery has a big call to make on whether to start his fellow Spaniard against Manchester City, but he doesn’t think Suarez will need long to adapt to the Premier League.

“Firstly he knows the language - he can speak English, which is important for us,” said the head coach.

“Secondly, he played at Manchester City with the youth teams. He has a big experience in Spain, at Sevilla, at Villarreal, where he played in a semi-final against Liverpool in the Europa League. After, he played with Barcelona, not in the first XI a lot of times, but he helped them there and played in the Champions League, in an important team with important players. I think for him it’s easy to adapt with us.

“I know the player [well] and he started to train individually yesterday. Today he was with the group. It’s good, his adaption has been quick. He’s a player with quality and I think he can help us with his quality, and also his ambition to do something important here. It’s a good challenge for him to help us.

“He can play right, play left, inside like a 10 player, and I am going to use him in all the positions in the attacking third. His best position? It depends… he played with us at Sevilla as a left winger, at Villarreal as more of a right winger and at Barcelona, he plays inside and outside. The possibility and capacity is all different.

“He has character, big character, and he has the quality to play here. My relationship with him is... I usually did my relationship with the player first like a professional relationship, and second like a person. It is different when he is working. Now for me, the relationship with him is professional and sometimes can be personal.”

And how about the prospect of Suarez starting against City? “I am thinking of all the players, and I will make my decision tomorrow, but if he starts I have confidence in him,” said Emery.