Manchester United have been handed a defensive boost after seeing Alex Telles test negative for coronavirus while away on international duty.
Media reports emanating from Brazil in the past few days suggested Telles had once again returned a positive test result for Covid-19, having previously been diagnosed with the illness at the end of October.
That was a frustrating setback for the full-back, who at that point had only recently made his United debut, which had been delayed due to an international window right after he joined from Porto for £14 million ($19m) last month.
When reports began to suggest Telles was one of the rare cases of someone contracting the virus multiple times, it looked set to be a major worry for United having already lost regular left-back Luke Shaw until December with a hamstring injury.
But the Brazilian Football Confederation have confirmed Telles is available to face Uruguay in Tuesday's World Cup qualifier via the following statement on their website: "Thiago Galhardo was listed after Alex Telles' tests were positive for COVID-19.
"The defender already had the disease, was asymptomatic and with a non-transmissible condition of the virus, but he could not travel to Uruguay.
"On the last examination, however, Telles' test came back negative and the defender was released for the game."
Telles will now be available for selection when United welcome West Brom to Old Trafford for a crucial Premier League encounter on Saturday.
The 27-year-old's sole appearance for the Red Devils to date came during a 2-1 Champions League victory over PSG last month, but he could make his top-flight bow against the Baggies in the absence of Shaw.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side will be looking for a second successive victory when they take on West Brom, having picked up a morale-boosting 3-1 win against Everton just before the international break.
United are currently languishing in the bottom half of the Premier League table after a slow start to the campaign, but they do have a game in hand on leaders Leicester, whom they currently trail by eight points.