3 reasons why Fred is the perfect signing for Manchester United

#2 Fred is of the configuration that Mourinho desires

Mourinho has found it hard to address United's midfield woes despite having quality players

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.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Amit Mishra