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Manchester United have made their first signing of the summer after having successfully negotiated terms with Shakhtar Donetsk for their central midfielder Frederico Rodrigues de Paula Santos a.k.a Fred.
Fred was earlier linked with a move to Manchester United's bitter cross-city rivals Manchester City and a deal was rumoured to have been nearing completion back in February.
But that fell apart and now Jose Mourinho and co. have cashed in and are bringing the Brazilian to Old Trafford. The United gaffer had already stated that he'll be signing a midfielder to replace Michael Carrick who retired at the end of last season.
Though the diminutive 25-year-old Brazilian's skillset is not identical to that of the departing Englishman, he is a top quality signing for the Reds. Fred is now training with the Brazilian squad and will travel to Russia to take part in the World Cup which starts in just over a week.
Without further ado, let's take a look at 3 things that Fred will bring to Manchester United.
#3 Fred is the perfect fit to play alongside Nemanja Matic
At Shakhtar Donetsk, Paulo Fonseca prefers a 4-2-3-1 system which is very similar to the system that Jose Mourinho uses at Manchester United. Stepanenko and Fred start in defensive midfield but Fred usually plays a little ahead while Stepanenko does the majority of the sweeping work in front of the backline.
On paper, Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba look like the perfect midfield trio to have for a Premier League side. However, things have not panned out like the Red Devils would have wanted.
Herrera and Matic both have the tendency to drop very deep to bring the ball out. With the arrival of Fred, Matic can go about his sweeping role and use Fred to link the play between defence and attack.
At Shakhtar, the focus is on the pace of the transition which enables the team to hit hard on the counter and Fred is the cog that facilitates the same. Manchester United will want the exact same thing from him. Herrera, though impressive towards the end of the season, has often failed to contribute to the flow of the game going forward.
That's why Fred looks like a better partner for Nemanja Matic in midfield.
#2 Fred is of the configuration that Mourinho desires
Fred is two-footed and that's a very rare quality at Old Trafford these days. This versatility he possesses will go a long way in adjusting tactics on the go. In games where one of the other midfielders get marked out, Fred can switch positions and upset the opposition's strategy.
The Brazilian also has the rare quality of being as good at winning the ball back as he is at distributing it. He is a deep-lying playmaker and can deliver some lethal and incisive through balls to split open defences. In fact, Shakhtar rely a lot on Fred's ability to pick out teammates from a deep position in midfield to catch their adversaries off guard.
Fred has also completed 23 dribbles- the best for any midfielder in the Champions League this past season. He also averages 5 tackles per game.
So essentially Fred is the halfway point between Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic and at least on paper, looks like the perfect central midfielder that Jose Mourinho could have hoped to sign.
#1 Fred can liberate Paul Pogba
It was settled halfway through the season that Paul Pogba does not function to the best of his abilities in a 2-man midfield. As a result, Manchester United decided to go with a trifecta of midfielders.
Scott McTominay was deployed as the third midfielder at first. Subsequently, Herrera claimed it with a couple of good performances though Fellaini and Carrick were used sparingly.
However, United still looked starved of creativity in the centre. Even with Herrera and Matic in the team, Pogba often had to drop back and gather the ball and do the greater part of bringing the ball out from the back all by himself, particularly during counter-attacks.
However, with Fred, who has proved that he is good both offensively and defensively, Pogba will have his work cut out. Both players have similar styles going forward. They both love to take on defenders and this will help them read each other's game better and help facilitate a better understanding of each other.
Pogba can also make those darting runs into the final third which have proved to be menacing without having to bear the burden of being the only player capable of working the ball out of the defensive third.
Matic will play sweeper, right in front of the defensive line. Fred will play a bit ahead of him and Pogba will be further forward and that's where he put in some of his best performances from in the 2017-18 campaign.
You can let us know what you think about our analysis in the comments section below.
