Why did we buy Fred?

Mark Pawelek said:
If that is true everyone on the player committee who did not vote against buying him must be sacked ASAP. Incompetence I can forgive. Vainglorious, wilful idiocy I cannot.
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He was on our radar for far longer than City were known to be interested. I can recall reading some threads on here (well before I registered) that were quite enthusiastic about the possibility of us signing him too. I think Fred had some decent performances in Europe with shakhtar that grabbed people’s attention.

Obviously when City became interested then we had a decision to make. We went for it, it clearly hasn’t worked out. The fee now looks insane, but in the context of where the transfer market has gone - it didn’t seem wholly unreasonable when the deal was done.
 
In January, 2018, according to MEN, Manchester City offered - "... a very big figure,” Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov confirmed: “They offered us around 50 million euros for Fred".

I think that's just Shakhtar hyping a player they wanted to make a nice profit on. I find it almost impossible to believe Shakhtar would turn down a real bid of €50m in January 2018; because I calculate it's about 4 times Fred's value.
 
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So does he not pass forward because he can't do it, or because there's no movement in front of him? Was watching a Keane compilation a while ago and the forward passes were sooo smooth.
 
I honestly have no idea anymore. I used to think there must be a player in there - give him a chance, he needs a run of games. But no, he's dire.
 
Weren't Fiorentina sniffing around him in the Summer window? Bah. Lets pump some steriods into Garner + Gomez and get em in the first team.
 
He fluctuates from looking a really good player to a pitch invader. More often than not plays like a pitch invader. I’m hope he can develop something between the two, as it’s one of the other since he signed.
 
Mark Pawelek said:
The argument that you sign a player because your rivals are interested in him is idiotic. I'm tired of hearing it. If it's true of Fred and Sanchez, then United should get relegated for incompetence.
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It was a “tongue in cheek” comment
 
He's one of the worst players I've seen wear the jersey. He offers nothing to the team; horrendous. Incredible he cost fifty million; it has to be one of the worst pieces of transfer business ever.
 
Fred, the 17 year old 26 year old. He's like this young talent who sometimes (10 mins spells) shows his ability and the rest of the time his lack of development, maturity, composure and intelligence, leaves you knowing he has a long way yet to go to fulfill the potential you knew you saw. Except when you realise he's not a kid and this is his grown version, and we million pounds in this crap.
 
Smores said:
He needs a loan.

Let's not pretend like there wasn't a lot of people on here excited about him though. Either we got done buying a player going through a purple patch or it's a mentality thing holding him back.
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This could work. There is supposedly something really good there. Maybe a steady run of games will bring it out.
 
You know the guy's bad if Lee Dixon gets it spot on:

  • "What's Fred good at? He almost never passes the ball forward - squares, squares, always squares."
  • "United may grow desperate and Fred might start passing forward, you never know!"
  • "Fred's lined up for the free-kick, but doubt he would take it, as it would mean playing it forward."
 
thejtrain said:
You know the guy's bad if Lee Dixon gets it spot on:

  • "What's Fred good at? He almost never passes the ball forward - squares, squares, always squares."
  • "United may grow desperate and Fred might start passing forward, you never know!"
  • "Fred's lined up for the free-kick, but doubt he would take it, as it would mean playing it forward."
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He's bang on. Ray Wilkins was called the crab because of his sideways passes, but Fred is more like a crab with no legs: in his shell and going nowhere.
 
Don't want to make him scapegoat of everything wrong at the club.

I am not even a tinniest fan of mata, lingard, perriera, but boy Fred makes them look miles better. Soon Fred will become phrasal verb - "he fred the pass", "today team is fredding" , "goalkeeper made a big fred of the situation" , "what a miss! he completely fred the opportunity", "manager must shed the fred of player's mind"
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
I personally never seen him play until he signed for us, not even in the Champions league.
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Messy player. Could see it just by watching some videos of him on youtube. When a player has to adjust himself after a less than ideal first touch at that level as often as he did, then something is wrong. And we are not giving him the same "nutrition" he was given in the oblast of Donetsk.
 
Fosu-Mens said:
Messy player. Could see it just by watching some videos of him on youtube. When a player has to adjust himself after a less than ideal first touch at that level as often as he did, then something is wrong. And we are not giving him the same "nutrition" he was given in the oblast of Donetsk.
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Maybe we shall start doing it then, perhaps it’s one of the reasons we were left behind.
 
Red_toad said:
He fluctuates from looking a really good player to a pitch invader. More often than not plays like a pitch invader. I’m hope he can develop something between the two, as it’s one of the other since he signed.
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:lol: Pitch invader is probably the best player insult I’ve ever heard.

On topic. Some players would be good under other circumstances. A new manager, new system, better team mates etc. Fred is not one of those players. Get rid.
 
This is what happens when someone who knows nothing about football is in charge of transfers.

You could have bought Moutinho, Neves and Tielemans for the same fee.
 
VorZakone said:
So does he not pass forward because he can't do it, or because there's no movement in front of him? Was watching a Keane compilation a while ago and the forward passes were sooo smooth.
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He wasn't even turning to look for openings... Newcastle midfield wasn't bothered with him at all.
 
He should be tried in free role. He couldn't be worse than Mata, Lingard, or Pereira there.

Not on CM, where discipline and game control are mighty important.
 
sewey89 said:
Is he the worst signing in Premier League history?

He's certainly in the conversation.
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I think even with inflation he's definitely up there. But personally I think Andy Carrol and Torres was worse. 50 million for Torres at the time was a huge fee and he just became a running joke.

Di Maria awful as well, but at least we recouped a lot of the money.
 
Fred reminds me of Ali Dia. Something is terribly amiss here. Whoever scouted Fred and thought he was worth £52m+... is in the wrong job.

That's not Fred's fault, though. And at least he gives everything he has got on the pitch (not much) when he plays. You can say that about very few of this current squad.
 
Sir Scott McToMinay said:
Maybe we shall start doing it then, perhaps it’s one of the reasons we were left behind.
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I'm fairly certain that the team will never sponsor such a program, but it won't matter, because such programs are already used rampantly by individuals in all top professional sports, and up through whatever feeder leagues support those top leagues.
 
He played so much flair and freedom at Shakhtar, it's hard to believe this is the same player. It's also fair to ask what has happened to a lot of our players since the start of last season? He isn't the only one playing poorly but could definitely be the worst of the lot.

Does he become the player we bought him to be under a new manager, can we even wait for that to happen? Giving him the preseason off to get married was a diabolical decision as he clearly needed a lot of work doing over the summer. Now he will probably struggle to get games as we can't trust him to deliver.
 
In my opinion our worst signing in uniteds history. He’s an absolute fraud. Sanchez was better even Bebe and Obertan I rate more than this guy. If he somehow comes good I’ll eat a sock. Safest bet I’ve ever made..
 
Shamana said:
I think even with inflation he's definitely up there. But personally I think Andy Carrol and Torres was worse. 50 million for Torres at the time was a huge fee and he just became a running joke.

Di Maria awful as well, but at least we recouped a lot of the money.
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Torres worse than Fred ? Wow. Surely that’s a wind up.
 
thejtrain said:
You know the guy's bad if Lee Dixon gets it spot on:

  • "What's Fred good at? He almost never passes the ball forward - squares, squares, always squares."
  • "United may grow desperate and Fred might start passing forward, you never know!"
  • "Fred's lined up for the free-kick, but doubt he would take it, as it would mean playing it forward."
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Some good lines there. Most good midfielders are taught around 16 that you always try to receive the ball while facing the opponents goal. Before making the save pass, you always give a look for a penetrating forward pass. In Sundays match Fred continually received the ball facing our goal and usually made the square pass without even looking forward. This is football 101 and Fred seems to have not learn this. Maybe, he just doesn't trust to receive with his right foot because it seems he seems to go out of his way to control with his left most times.
 
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