The Portugal coach has warned the Manchester United winger to battle for the right to regain his starting spot ahead of next week's friendly with Netherlands
Portugal boss Paulo Bento says Manchester United winger Nani must recover his top form if he is to re-establish himself as an automatic starter for the national team.

The 26-year-old spent more than half of the domestic campaign sidelined through injury last season, limiting his involvement within the Seleccao set-up and allowing the likes of Wolfsburg winger Vieirinha to impress in his absence.

The former Sporting Lisbon ace has been included in the squad to face the Netherlands on August 14, but Bento has warned the attacker that he must be prepared to work hard in order to regain a regular starting-berth.

"He will now have to put in a bit of effort to recover what was once his - the role of playing nearly every time," Bento told a press conference.

"That did not happen in the last few matches. He needs to do his bit and then we will see what we will do.

"He has had to cope with Vieirinha who did extremely well in our recent matches against Azerbaijan, Israel, Russia and Croatia.

"We still called him in for the Netherlands match because he has great quality and potential."

Nani was handed his debut at international level in 2006 by Luis Felipe Scolari and has subsequently been capped 60 times.