Massimiliano Allegri believes Paul Pogba will grow in stature this season following the departure of several big names at Juventus.
The 22-year-old is already regarded as one of Europe's top midfielders and has been the subject of bids from Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona this summer.
While Juve look set to hold on to Pogba for this season at least, several other key players have left the club, with Carlos Tevez, Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal all departing.
Their exits means the France international will have greater responsibility this term, but Allegri has backed him to flourish under the additional weight of expectancy.
"I think that he has the capability to play as a top player, to understand the flow of the game," said the Juve boss. "Lest we forget that Pogba has played a lot of games for Juventus in the last few years since he arrived.
"He has grown a lot. And this season we expect a leap from him in terms of presence on the pitch so that his team mates can lean on him."
Allegri was speaking after his side secured the Supercoppa Italiana with a 2-0 win over Lazio in Shanghai, with the performance of goalscorer Mario Mandzukic - a close-season arrival from Atletico Madrid - particularly pleasing the head coach.
He added: "I think that Mandzukic is a great player otherwise I would not give my approval to bring him in.
"Apart from his character, I think that he moves very well in attack. Apart from the goal, I think he has also showed some good individual skills for our second goal.
"Its normal that he still needs to know his team-mates but I would say that I am very happy about his performance especially because he missed a great chance but then recovered immediately after by scoring the opener."
