It's a bit more than that.
Fred gives his all and is a decent performer. However, he's not a DM. We've experimented with him in the holding role and it doesn't work. In addition, its not like he's a perfect ball winner either, he's good, but not good enough to be a certified starter for a contender; and yes Wijnaldum, Henderson and Fabinho are all better than him, so lets put that to bed. They were all better on the ball and better in their press resistance. In addition, Fred isn't a great passer or dribbler, which means that we need his partner to be both a good holding player and a good ball progressor if we want to start building up play as well as our rivals. Is Fred really worth having to look and search for a Xabi Alonso or a Schweinstieger ( who are really rare in today's game). In addition, we don't even have a competent partner for him at the club; Pogba playing with Fred means either Pogba stays deep and gets exposed or Fred shows his poor positioning and is limited in his ability to cause chaos and harry the opposition ( which is his primary skill); Fred with Matic creates massive gaps in midfield because Matic can't make up the spaces Fred creates from trying to close down the opposition; Fred with Mctominay offers nothing offensively. The only solution requires us to play a 433, essentially reducing the goal threat from Bruno ( who was our top goal scorer last season). He's a complex player to have, he can work in certain circumstances, but I don't see him as a player who is worth all that mental gymnastics or really worth a starting position in our team. If he improves his passing we can talk, but until then, stats can say anything they like, but when he plays, we struggle to move the ball up the pitch and thats a massive problem for a midfielder.