Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits Phil Jones will see action next season.
Jones, during negotiations about his move from Blackburn Rovers, questioned exactly how much he would be involved.
"The area we had to work hardest with Phil was to convince him he would get enough football," said Ferguson.
"The first thing you can say is last season Nani played the most games for us, with 48. He was still 11 short of the maximum.
"No-one at United is going to play the maximum number of games. Rio Ferdinand only played 29 and Nemanja Vidic missed some as well."
Ferguson also had a couple of direct examples with which to prove his point.
Twelve months ago, Chris Smalling arrived from Fulham expecting to be eased very gradually into the Old Trafford scene. He eventually made 33 appearances.
In the two seasons prior to that, Jonny Evans racked up 60.
"The other thing I explained to him was that we are always trying to look ahead towards the team of the future rather than the team of the present," said Ferguson.
"We expect the team of the present to fulfil their responsibilities but the team of the future is the one that is growing whilst the other one is doing the business."
