Manchester United midfielder Fred has endured a tough start to the season. The Brazil international was key in his nation’s run to the Copa America final this summer but had only 45 minutes of pre-season in the tank by the time he played in United’s Premier League curtain-raiser against Leeds United on August 14.
Still, the 28-year-old impressed in the comprehensive victory over Marcelo Bielsa’s side and even scored the fifth and final goal of the game.
Since then, he has found it difficult to replicate the form he showed against Leeds. In games against Southampton and Wolves especially, Fred struggled with the basics and he was eventually dropped against Newcastle last week.
He has now vowed to improve as he insists hard work is being done in training: “I aim to improve and work a lot after training on my passing,” the midfielder told Inside United, according to the official Manchester United website.
“Sometimes turning in the midfield, things more specific to my position. As I’ve said before, my objective is to get the ball to the forwards, to always be ready to receive the ball from the centre-backs, receive a pass and have the right body position to control it and find a good pass.
Read more: Solskjaer confirms midfield star is back in full training at Manchester United
“I aim to improve in this area, this is the most important area to improve and develop in my position. I visualise this every day so I look to improve on positioning on the pitch, an additional pass, turns during a game, that’s what I look to work on every day.”
Midfield remains Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s weakest area in the team, with only three real options for the Norwegian manager to consider. Scott McTominay has, however, recently returned to training in a huge boost to Solskjaer’s side.
Fred remains a key player under Solskjaer but he could find it hard to earn a regular role in the side following the return of McTominay.
keep in mind that this a professional footballer playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world – talking about such basic things that any footballer should be able to do. he’s also 28 – mind boggles that united spent 50m on a player who admits he cant even pass.