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#4 Fred
A veteran of many seasons with Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian league, the 25-year-old Brazilian has caught the eye on many occasions with his exploits for The Miners, and a lot was expected when Manchester United beat heated rivals Manchester City to his signature.
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At £52m, the Brazilian international represents a huge outlay (even by today’s extremely inflated markets), and it was believed that he would offer a different dynamism to the United midfield, combining his grit and industry with the flair and technique associated with almost all Brazilians (which has been sorely lacking at United in recent years).
Mourinho was highly delighted with Fred’s capture, stating that club without a Brazilian in it is not truly an elite club, and Fred impressed in his early warm-up games for The Red Devils, particularly in the defeat of Champions League holders Real Madrid in the ICC where he ran the midfield and linked up well with the attack to keep Real Madrid pegged back.
He started in United’s opening day victory over Leicester in the Premier League but showed signs of rustiness with poor first touches and sloppy mistakes which were pegged down to nervousness.
Four months later, and it has gone worse for Fred, as he has started just five more Premier League matches (from 11), while only making a solitary 69 minute appearance in the UCL against Young Boys out of four matches United have disputed in that competition, this comes in sharp contrast to Riyad Mahrez at City or Jorginho at Chelsea who have slotted in seamlessly at their new clubs as though they have been there for ages.
Pogba got injured and was ruled out against Manchester City, but rather than field Fred, Jose turned to the much-maligned Fellaini, and this must have been a jarring blow to the confidence of the Brazilian.
Even though there is still more than enough time to turn his fortunes at the club around and improve his standing, so far, it has not quite panned out the way Fred expected upon arriving Old Trafford.
