On Thursday, Britain's Sky Sports, The Manchester Evening News and Italian transfer expert Di Marzio announced almost simultaneously that Manchester United's Brazilian midfielder Fred, who signed Ukrainian Super League overlord Shakhtar Donetsk, was close to completing the deal. Fred's transfer fee will be around 50 million euros, or £44 million, which is a lot cheaper than his £53 million transfer fee, and Ed Woodward made a good deal for Mourinho. Of course, there are also rumors that the price will be around 52 million pounds.
The chairman of The Donetsk Miners was blunt: "He will join a strong team." Fred, on the other hand, liked a suggestive comment on the social networking site: "Fred is red!" Indeed, at Old Trafford, the Manchester United mascot in the number 55 shirt is called "Red Devil Fred"!
The player, Frederico Rodrigues de Paula, full name, is 25 and has been named to Brazil's 23-man squad for the World Cup.
Fred is his nickname, in fact, the correct pronunciation should be "Fred" (ˈfɾɛd(ʒ)i)! He is an all-round midfielder, although he is less than 170cm tall (only 168~169cm), but he can play in the front waist, retreat as a back, and can also play in the midfield.
Next week, the Brazilian national team will play a warm-up match between England and Croatia at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium. It's only 29 miles from United's Carrington training ground, less than 47 kilometers, and it's a close drive away that United could get Fred in the territory of their nemesis and bring back Carrington for a medical examination. In this way, it is expected to become a good story.
Fred met this week with his agent agent, Brazilian star Gilberto Silva, who captained Arsenal's back, before Gilberto flew to England, apparently to meet with Manchester United. But in an interview on Thursday, Fred also said that the future World Cup will not be determined until later: "Maybe after the World Cup I will make a choice, now I only think about the World Cup." 」
According to the British media, Manchester United was dissatisfied with Fred's hesitant attitude and once threatened to withdraw from the transfer, because paris Saint-Germain and other local tycoons were also eyeing the Brazilian international, and Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho and the top management clearly told Fred's team: do not want to delay.
Therefore, perhaps the "tree" Manchester United fans still need to wait for the final official announcement. The British media have all been unanimous, including the authoritative BBC (the BBC mentioned that Manchester United's two targets are in addition to Fred and Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld), all confirmed that manchester United's negotiations with the Donetsk miners have reached a fairly deep stage and are likely to be completed before the opening of the World Cup on June 14.
Fred debuted in the academy of Atlético Mineiro in Brazil, leaving the team in 2009 to join Porto Alegre and joining Brasil International in 2010, where he successfully entered the first team and played the main role, helping Brazil International win two consecutive state league titles and win the "Copa Winners' Cup of South America"
In 2013, Fred came to Shakhtar Donetsk for a transfer fee of 13 million euros, and in this famous "demon team", he continued to win the championship momentum, 3 domestic league titles, 3 Ukrainian Cups, and 4 Ukrainian Super Cups have arrived.
Fred will be United's 7th Brazilian player. At Manchester United, Brazilian football has always been highly regarded. Mourinho said that "a team without Brazilians is not a football team", and Frogue is also quite fond of samba football.
Although no Brazilian player has been a big success at Manchester United, Rafael da Silva, Anderson and others have also won the Premier League title at Old Trafford. In his second autobiography, published in 2013, Verdeon praised Anderson as a cute boy and admired the Expressive character of the Brazilian, feeling stronger than the Argentine.
"Brazilians feel like they can play against any opponent," Sayrzew said, "and I would say to Anderson, 'Do you see Neymar in Brazil?'" "Ah, great player, amazing." "Do you see this Robinho?" "Wonderful, incredible players." I mention any Brazilian name and he reacts that way, he thinks every player in his country is world-class."
"Once, when Brazil beat Portugal in a friendly, Anderson told Cristiano Ronaldo: 'Next time we go to the fifth team, give you a chance.'" Ronaldo is certainly not happy, but that is the charm of Brazil as a country. I really like a story that Rio de Janeiro is going to recruit a new No. 10, and thousands of people come. A little boy traveled 22 hours on a bus and came on a long journey. It was a big country of football, full of geniuses. I've always respected Brazilian players, do you try to name a Brazilian who can't do a big game? They are all crazy people, born for big scenes. They have a special talent: they are very proud of themselves and very confident."
"Some people say that Brazilian players don't like training, thinking that this is a distraction to a happy life, a lie. They train very steadily. It is also a fallacy that they are afraid of the cold, for example, the Da Silva brothers, who never wore outer clothes or gloves, just rushed out. No other country can offer as many top players as Brazil, and the Argentines are very patriotic, but I think they lack the Brazilians' desire to perform."
In the Brazilian national team, Fred was first selected in 2014 and entered the Copa America squad in 2015 to replace the injured Gustavo, who started two Group C group matches and then was abandoned, Brazil lost to Paraguay in the quarter-finals and was eclipsed.
Not only that, in the urine test, Fred was found to have exceeded the standard of hydrochlorothiazide and was banned for two years, originally only for the Americas, but FIFA decided in 2016 to expand the scope of his punishment and impose a global ban, so Fred missed 4 months of competition.
But this did not affect his development, and Fred continued to improve after his comeback, and even attracted a lot of interest from Manchester City in January this year. So why did City finally abandon Fred and now prepare to spend £60 million to re-sign Napoli?
At that time, Manchester City manager Guardiola, in a meeting with CEO Soriano and sporting director Bergiristan, made it clear that he needed to find a successor to Fernandinho, who is 33 years old. But City's needs are not urgent, because Fei Bird is still in good shape, there is no downward trend, and the Premier League champions are all in control, even if there is any accident in the Brazilian back, there is another veteran Yaya Toure, Germany international Gundogan.
Therefore, Manchester City finally decided to use the two transfer periods of the winter window and the summer window to slowly determine the right person. Their move to bring in Fred had already begun, however, the Donetsk miners were still in the Champions League at the time, unwilling to let people go easily, and the negotiations were bound to be long, and the miners asked for more than 50 million pounds. In order to raise the price, they pulled on Manchester United.
In January, there were other candidates for Guardiola's Manchester City signings, he wanted a centre-back and he wanted to sign Alexis Sanchez. As we all know, in the end, Manchester United snatched the Chilean winger from the Blue Moon, Liverpool spent 75 million pounds to take van Dijk, and Manchester City bought out Laporte in Bilbao for 57 million pounds. At this time, Manchester City believes that if fred is bought at a high price, it may affect the summer window transaction, and other teams will score a lion's mouth.
Sane's injury to Cardiff City changed the direction of Manchester City's reinforcements, because Jesus had already suffered a knee ligament injury at that time, and Guardiola, who lacked the attack line, preferred to get Mahrez, but Leicester City offered a high price of 90 million pounds, which directly led to the failure of the deal. However, City's interest in the Blue Fox winger has not waned, and they may have bought him and Jorginho for £120 million this summer.
On the other hand, if Fred joins Manchester City, because the Guardiola midfielder has De Bruyne and David Silva, he can only play another back, he must compete with Fernandinho, Gundogan and others, and the living space is smaller than at Manchester United. So, after the failed transfer to Manchester City, his team took the opportunity to contact manchester United, who was "inflating", and now it is really very close to landing at Old Trafford.
Although labeled "the next Fernandinho" and perhaps replacing Carrick at Manchester United, his style is very different from that of both. Fred is a left-footer, full-blown midfield commander, and if I have to sum it up in one buzzword, it's the B2B midfielder.
He can pass the ball accurately, tackle the ball fiercely, and advance at high speed with the ball. That's right, you could say he's a shrunken and defensive version of Pogba, or another player who is more suitable for him – Tottenham's Belgian midfielder Moussa Dembele.
The data tells you that fred, 25, is the absolute core of the donetsk miners this season, and agent Gilberto once asserted: "The miners rely too much on him."
In the Champions League against Roma, Fred scored a free-kick straight into the corner, which was quite wonderful.
Fred has also contributed 443 passes, 18 tackles, 26 passes and 23 successes in the Champions League this season, all of which are the highest in the team.
Not only that, but among the players who have dribbled more than 25 times in the Champions League this season, Fred has the highest success rate, 88.5%, even beating forwards such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar.
It is worth mentioning that Fred's average of 2.9 passes per game and tackles per game ranked 19th and 24th among all players in the Champions League, respectively.
Fred himself explains: "Coach Fonseca allowed me to juggle attack and defense, and my main task was to change the direction of the attack. When former manager Lucescu was in charge, those tasks were done by strikers and full-backs, but now that I'm the organiser, everything has changed. The coach trusted me and saw the characteristics that Lucescu ignored."
Has Fred's level reached the level of the top giants? Ukrainian journalist Novikov told ESPN: "Fred has not yet reached the level of tenacity, aggression and tactical discipline of Fernandinho, he may sometimes be distracted, not always chasing back in time after conceding the ball, but these links are likely to improve." Fred's forward shot was brilliant, providing a high level of direct passing. He's able to cope with pressing, and his dribbling ability is excellent as a controlled midfielder."
Where does Fred play at Manchester United? With the characteristics that he can carry and grab, there is no doubt that he can become the inevitable first starter of the midfield. Pogba can rest assured that he is on the left side of midfield, with Nemanja Matic in the centre and Fred on the right. This combination can even be called the best configuration of the midfield since the retirement of Ferjue.
Fred's passing straight is a major feature, not only that, but he can also contribute accurate crosses, which will also be a good complement to United's attack.
Also, although it was a left-footed player, Fred's right-footed pass or even shot had no problem.
Only 169cm tall, but can conquer Mourinho, in addition to the creativity of the attack, Fred's physical confrontation is naturally not weak.
In the FIFA 18 game that has just been updated for the World Cup, Fred's numbers have been significantly improved. The overall value is 81, and the ball control is 84, the sprint ability is 84, the short pass is 86, and the physical fitness is a staggering 99.
Fred, never again just a Manchester United mascot!