The centre-back has been sidelined since suffering a knee injury in early February, against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, and has been missed.
He travelled on our staff flight to Bilbao for the Europa League final with his family, to offer his support to his team-mates, but you could sense how he would have given everything to be out there on the field at San Mames instead, scrapping to try to bring the silverware home.
In the meantime, the work behind the scenes has been relentless for Licha, ensuring he was in a position to return to training with the squad on Wednesday, an extremely welcome sight at Carrington.