In which league?
Selling Fred was a mistake
- Thread starter Idxomer
- Start date
If you didnt like him fine, but Im guessing you havent watched utd for very long if you think Fred's the worst regular for us....but like you said, you have an agenda.
No it wasn't.
Could some of you actually wait for Mount to play more games and show his quality before you start clamouring for the underwhelming footballer that is Fred.
His what mate
Mount is a vastly superior footballer to Fred, does that pose a problem for your agenda?His what mate
Do we look like a Premier League team to you? We had the chance to play a Turkish team twice in the Champions League and we couldn't beat them either.
I actually really liked Fred. He always seemed to be able to inject energy into the team with his pressing and engine. Quality and consistency was questionable. Some pedestrian and wayward passes I remember well.
That said there's no mistake in selling him. He just wasn't up to standards. Not buying an improvement in his posistion was the mistake. It's probably the most stocked midefield we've had in recent times in terms of the number of personnel but we're deeply missing quality in there.
That said there's no mistake in selling him. He just wasn't up to standards. Not buying an improvement in his posistion was the mistake. It's probably the most stocked midefield we've had in recent times in terms of the number of personnel but we're deeply missing quality in there.
I'd take Fred as our #8 any day. No idea why we sold him. Especially for such a low price. I think the McFred days put a bad taste in a lot of people mouths but when Fred and Cassemiro played together last year they did well.
Last I remember we are 7th so are there 13 worse teams who aren't premier league teams I guess? Maybe we should get Turkish league's best player?
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I’m fully expecting a “Selling McTominay was a mistake “ next season if we do get rid .
Both should be nowhere near the club
Both should be nowhere near the club
Selling was ok. We didn't replace him.. that was the problem
Fred played 22 games for Fenerbahce this season, scoring 3 goals and assisting 4.
In the hindsight, was he a better player overall than Casemiro for us? Or best Brazilian to play for us in recent 20 years? I think it's certainly interesting.
In the hindsight, was he a better player overall than Casemiro for us? Or best Brazilian to play for us in recent 20 years? I think it's certainly interesting.
We never replaced him adequately. THAT was the mistake. It was time to sale. I m still pissed off it was for below his true market value.
Not just quality. Types. We literally currently have one natural DM in the senior squad. One natural CM in the senior squad. That is unacceptable. Especially when you add the factor that DM is now finished.....
His injuries this season have coincided with Fenerbache’s form dropping. When he was fully fit they were unbeaten for like the first 20+ games in all comps. He’s missed around 13 league games and they’re now 6 points below Galatasary with 3 games to go.
He certainly had at least another 12-24 months at the top level before we sold him. We sold him and bought in/kept inferior midfielders.
Rafael > Fred > the rest
Case last season was extremely good without being world class. Mostly because he actually knew how to play a DM in a pair. Fred under Ragnick was him finally being played in the position everyone wanted him played in and he wa a very good. Think he scored or assisted about a quarter of all our goals. It’s a shame we only saw him there for a fleeting moment relatively.
Yeah, and we sold him for peanuts in peak of his form as he was really good last season. But the manager didn't fancy him for whatever reason.
I kind of get it - regardless of who was in charge - he was approaching the age of having no resale value and I assume ETH thought he’d be getting more midfielders. I loved Fred, just think it’s criminal we signed him and took so long to actually play him as a more ball carrying/arguably more offensive CM which is what he was at Shakhtar.
I think this season has shown that our manager is a clown.
We are paying 2M more to loan Amrabat, who comfortably looks a level or two below Fred than we made out of selling Fred. If that ain’t an indictment of the ass clowns running our transfer business, I don’t know what else could be.
Oh my God, I hadn't actually made that observation until now! This club really loaned Amrabat for the same price they sold Fred! And then barely played him!
Fecking hell, Murtough really was totally clueless.
Looking at how this season has gone, it was an awful move to let go of him for just £10m. That's such a small fee that there is much more value in having a bit more squad depth and a few more options for midfield pairings. Sadly it's par for the course with our higher-ups.
Selling the one midfielder we had with some ability to cover the massive holes in midfield was baffling.
It is like I watch a completely different game to Ten Hag based on what he says and does.
It is like I watch a completely different game to Ten Hag based on what he says and does.
No it wasn't a mistake, he was a fun person and a half-decent squad player but in reality he was shite. The mistake was not selling the other players who are as good/bad who are still here, and replacing him with useless guys like Amrabat who's somehow even worse.
Keep in mind that at the point we sold him, he was one of the very few players who could run 90 minutes week in week out, and was almost never injured.
Now compare that to Casemiro to Eriksen, in both cases it was very obvious they need legs/assistance in midfield. And somehow we managed not to address this issue.
I remember having a discussion that Eriksen was the one we should let go last summer, not Fred, because he didn't have much role to play, especially with Mount joining.
We really make all the wrong moves in terms of squad building.
I'm finding it interesting now when people call players at United shite. Cos they're probably not. They just turn to shite when they pull that shirt on. He's probably a pretty good player.
I never got the hate for Fred, thought he was a cracking little player for us and never shyed away.
Amarabat was never supposed to replace Fred, they play a different roles. If ETH wanted to play with two attacking/pressing 8's then he should have sticked to Fred, even if we still got Mount. Fred was close to perfect squad player for that moment in time and players we already had in midfield. By no means he was perfect, but he was very useful - you can't deny that. He was a disliked player in the fanbase for whatever reason, so in a way that made it easy for Ten Hag to get rid.
I think the original plan was to offload Eriksen/just keep him in the squad, sell Donny, sell McT and sell Fred and bring in 2-3 (plus Mainoo was earmarked as a first teamer). In the end it was a disaster and we ended up with Amrabat on loan and Mount constantly injured. I don’t think the club foresaw PSR suddenly deciding it would punish clubs.
Amrabat is actually fine as a squad player to be part of a pivot but I agree in hindsight (with Mount crocked) it’s crazy we sold Fred. We need a number of signings now and I hope we gamble on some free transfers as well.
He's not a better central midfielder
The mistake was not upgrading, and I repeat, Mount is not an upgrade in central midfield
To be fair, he was very good at some things, and pretty bad at others (or at least very inconsistent). When paired with McTominay it could be disastrous because Fred could have a major offday and give the ball away very easily, while McTominay would do his normal disappearing act. Truly a terrible midfield pairing, and they tended to split the blame equally.
With hindsight, I would have loved to see Fred as part of the squad this season. Assuming he can still cover ground and press like he used to, I feel like Fred-Mainoo would be quite interesting, and even Fred-Casemiro or Fred-Eriksen would be viable in certain types of games.
We are even in worse shape than I thought if we are reeling from the sale of Fred.
I loved Fred and he got on my nerves. Such a lovable and feisty character, and when his passing was in a flow, he looked suddenly world class. Unfortunately, his passing was never in a flow for more than the odd game, and when he had his much more frequent off games or periods, passes could, and would, end up anywhere. In a sense he was a poor mans Bruno when attacking, unfortunately a poor mans Bruno hardly ever score and costs way more than he brings in the PL. Defensively he was brilliant in press and 1-1 duels, but always suspect and forgetful in positioning and relating to team structure. He wouldn’t have started this season, he wouldn’t have been a candidate to play ahead of Casemiro because of his ill discipline, and not to play beside him because he is so disruptive to the passing in so many games. McTominay has nothing on him apart from goals, a certain predictable stability, age and confidence, which is enough to let Fred go.
No not realy on that one.. selling Elanga and D Henderson were mistakes.. brought in Antony whos pants and Onana who's the same..
Fred I'm sure wouldn't have been injured most of the season either.. Mount was injured for Chelsea ffs then comes here plays pre season wasn't that clever either, then gets injured again who's doing the diligence on these players..
Fred I'm sure wouldn't have been injured most of the season either.. Mount was injured for Chelsea ffs then comes here plays pre season wasn't that clever either, then gets injured again who's doing the diligence on these players..
The Brazilian history keeps being somewhat problematic I guess. I always liked Fred, he definitely had his disadvantages but his running and energy was often gold for the team, that for a long time has issues with intensity and workrate. Fred was able to mitigate that to a degree.
It is a shame, that we sold him only to switch to a formation, where he might have really thrived in (something that funnily also applies to DVB)... I agree, our squadbuilding is really weird. I guess, it is a bit of a shame, that both Mount and Amrabat were rather underwhelming, I think, if both at least had decent to good seasons, it wouldn't be that much of an issue. ETHs decision to play Eriksen as CM, McTominay finally stepping out of midfield, Casemiro hitting a rock this season and what I mentioned about Mount and Amrabat created a pretty perfect storm for our midfield.
For me it would also be Rafael over Fred. But Casemiro really had a good season last year and Ando was also a likeable chap. So I don't know about the order, I definitely don't think we should stop bringing in Brazilians because we have bad luck with them, United of the last years were masters when it comes to create the worst possible environments for players to succeed in.
Yeah this is exactly my stance on the matter as well.
Remember how we used to laugh at Ole's persistence with McFred, little realising how much worse it could get.
I think the fact that this thread is resurfacing highlights both the desperate situation we find ourselves in, and, I personally feel, the dropin standards we have at the club. Fred was nothing but average.. the odd v good game here and there, quite a few very, very poor games.. generally, consistently average. We need to make a statement and move on from considering such players. Even with the best managers, you're only going to get so much from players like Fred.