Manchester United are closing in on a deal to sign Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fred, according to reports today.
This report comes following the news that fellow Premier League rivals Manchester City have ended their interested in the Brazilian midfielder.
Fred has been one of the Ukrainian Premier League’s top players since joining from Internacional in his homeland nearly five years ago as he pushes for a place in the Brazil squad at this summer’s World Cup.
It was reported by the Manchester Evening News in January that Pep Guardiola’s side were close to signing the 25-year-old during the winter transfer window, but nothing materialised.
Now the same newspaper are reporting that Manchester United are looking to push through a transfer after the Premier League champions pulled out.
Jose Mourinho is certainly expected to sign a central midfielder or two over the summer as Michael Carrick is set to retire and Marouane Fellaini is expected to leave on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of the season. This would leave us with only four central midfielders on our books.
The boss even confirmed his plans to sign a central midfielder or two in the Manchester Evening News last weekend:
“We are going to invest the basic to improve our squad. We need to find a replacement for Michael Carrick, if Marouane Fellaini leaves, we need to find a replacement for Marouane Fellaini.”
Fred is widely-expected to leave Shakhtar Donetsk this summer and we have previously been linked with a £50 million move for the player. This shouldn’t be a problem for us financially it’s just a matter of whether Jose and the club feel it’s good value.
The Brazilian is an excellent tackler and a good passer of the ball who creates chances for his teammates.
We have been linked to a number of central midfielders for the upcoming summer transfer window but Fred appears to be the most-likely to join at this point. Other names mentioned include Napoli’s Jorginho, Real Madrid duo Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, Nice’s Jean Seri and Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Weigl.
