Manchester United opinion: Manchester United need to hold onto Fred
According to a report in the Daily Express, Manchester United might be open to the idea of moving on Fred, who only signed for the club last season. The Brazilian made the move while the 2018 World Cup was going on and a lot was expected of him after impressing in the Champions League for the past couple of seasons.
It’s what got him a place in the World Cup squad in the first place but it took him a lot of time to settle down at Old Trafford. His lack of physicality was a real problem for him in the beginning, as he’d often get bullied in duels by stronger midfielders and look for cheap fouls.
However, it didn’t help that the entire team was struggling at the time under Jose Mourinho and were bereft of confidence. He did show his quality at times in a deeper role but couldn’t get a consistent run of games with Nemanja Matic being the starter when available.
It looked like his career was going nowhere but he got a second chance under Solskajer when a lot of United’s starting midfielders like Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic were out for a period due to injury.
This allowed the likes of Fred and Scott McTominay to come to the fore and the two formed a very strong partnership in midfield.
Fred and McTominay impressed in the second leg against Paris Saint-Germain and also were the standout players for United in the two legs against Barcelona.
Fred played in his deeper midfield role and would pass the ball quickly in triangles to beat a press and relieve pressure. He’s also very good at playing line-breaking passes to set up attacking opportunities.
Fred also showed in those games that in short tight spaces, he’s very good at winning the ball back because of his small size.
All of these attributes will help Fred if there’s a better backline behind him and an organized press ahead of him as he can try and intercept the ball while the centre-backs go in to sweep up danger.
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This will allow Fred to dictate the tempo of the game. The likes of Nemanja Matic just don’t have the pace to recover and his passing is far too pedestrian for the Manchester United team that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used to play for.
Fred needs another chance before Manchester United come to a conclusion with him.