Oh, Christ. Fred was likeable but he was so limited as a player.
Amrabat and Mount are a few levels above.
Amrabat and Mount are a few levels above.
Selling Fred was a mistake
- Thread starter Idxomer
- Start date
with players returning now in midfield, this discussion will cease to exist.
Big Fred fan. We could have used him the last few weeks but long term he’s not the answer. I’m glad to see us make new signings and bring the age of the squad down. The midfield needs to evolve as it was never going to be enough to win anything even with Casemiro. I would have sold McT and Donny long before Fred though as he’s a much better player. He carried McT and made him look somewhat like a footballer for years and people are finally seeing that now without him he’s just a statue who’s afraid of the ball.
Fred made colossal mistakes, no question, but he was never as persistently poor as McTominay. Fred's various managers were playing with fire by having Fred sit back as though he were a CDM, which he clearly is not. But further up the pitch, Fred's passing is galaxies better than McTominay's. What McTominay has is a nose for goal from distance and that's it.
I liked Fred, and like absolutely everyone he was criticised more harshly on here that he should have been. But when played as a 'DM" literally any appropriately defensive player would have improved on him, and Amrabat certainly more than does that. As a #8 - his actual position, which he only occupied around half the time at most for us - Mount is a big improvement. Meanwhile Hannibal in his first and second starts for us has put in two performances worthy of Fred on one of his better days (not spectacular, but solid and hard-working and effective). Gore and Mainoo waiting in the wings.
I think we're ok without him.
I think we're ok without him.
I swear our fan base has these moments whereby they reminisce/cry out for the return of most players we’ve sold at one point or another - even if said player was proven not to be good enough. “Could have done a job as a squad player….blah blah”. Now it’s Fred’s time I guess. Let him have his moment/thread.
Fred is like an amateur jazzer who thinks playing in a marching band at school is an achievement. He is the saxophonist that often coughs in the middle of performance. But when he doesnt and the song is in the good part, everything just flows smoothly you would think he is a world class saxophonist, only in that specific part though and ignoring the rest. When he coughs its chaos and you would find a better sound coming from your toilet.
But what United need is a consistent saxophonist like Kenny G. He brings harmony whenever he plays. Can Amrabat be the Kenny G? maybe not. But he does look like he will look good in elevators and since elevator music is often Kenny G's song, he has the chance to be like Kenny G.
But what United need is a consistent saxophonist like Kenny G. He brings harmony whenever he plays. Can Amrabat be the Kenny G? maybe not. But he does look like he will look good in elevators and since elevator music is often Kenny G's song, he has the chance to be like Kenny G.
I was quite a fan of Fred. He was way underestimated on here, and at his best was a really fine player. Nonetheless, I am happy with the new additions to our midfield- Amrabat and, effectively, Hannibal. I think we’re gonna get pretty damned excellent when our team gels and I don’t actually miss Fred. Naturally I wish him well in his new club. But overall I think we’re better now and on the verge of something good.
I'm shocked I couldn't find a 'releasing Tuanzebe was a mistake' thread tbh
Be careful what you wish for
Nah I think there were enough clamour for him back in the day to play more or be recalled from loan spells to make up for the lack of “mistake to let him go” thread!
Nope.
And is stronger in duels, in the air and has better movement without the ball (which can described as your nose for goal granted)
Tweet
— Twitter API (@user) date
The one that got away?
At the time we sold him I said the transfer fee was too low to sell. I also thought given our midfield options he should not have been sold. Not that I think he’s a top player. I created the ‘Why did we buy Fred’ thread. But his qualities like pressing and energy are being badly missed in midfield this season.
Was another very silly decision to get rid of one of the few players who could stay fit, regularly put a shift in, press the opposition, and occasionally be very tidy on the ball.
It was known in the summer that Ten Hag was looking for a physical midfielder so when Fred was sold I thought it was a sign we'd found someone better. Letting him go and bringing in Mount/Amrabat as the replacement is shocking business.
He was probably sold because he was one of the only midfield assets we could get money for, plus his contract was expiring. If we’d have offered an extension, people would be slamming the club for doing so.
The main issue is that his replacement in Mount hasn’t worked so far, and Amrabat is probably even worse.
The main issue is that his replacement in Mount hasn’t worked so far, and Amrabat is probably even worse.
I think it's telling he was the only one we could move on.
He was never a great player but he was an average player with a fantastic work rate and attitude which sometimes is more valuable than a fantastic player with an average work rate.
He was never a great player but he was an average player with a fantastic work rate and attitude which sometimes is more valuable than a fantastic player with an average work rate.
He was sold because Ten Hag didn't fancy him clearly. He has a number of good appearances, good numbers in terms of goal contributions, never injured and could play 90' every game. Our peak period last season was with Fred in the team partnering Casemiro.
I would be OK if we extended his deal as he was a decent player and would've saved us money. We could've waited another season to get Mount for free, we could've sold McTominay and get another "big" midfielder in or just go for an established striker.
In the end I don't think Ten Hag fancies Fred-esque midfielders, so those who operate in between the boxes. Eric is all about DMs and #10s.
It wouldn't have been a mistake if we had improved on him. It's clearly looking at the moment that we haven't and he would once again have been our best midfielder this season (something that he was in a couple other seasons which people forget), so it's definitely looking like a mistake.
It was a clueless decision selling our only midfielder with an engine to run all game.
A million times fecking no.
Its exactly this. Its ok to get rid of anyone but you need to replace with a better player. Hence the De Gea threads and the Greenwood threads and the Ronaldo threads etc. All of them should have gone but we just never replaced them with quality.
Selling him wasn't a mistake. It was replacing him with no one and thinking we'd get by.
Hopefully we don't see the same thread with McTominay, because he's another one that needs shot out of a cannon.
Hopefully we don't see the same thread with McTominay, because he's another one that needs shot out of a cannon.
Selling fred and buying mount made us weaker, Fred was actually capable of doing what ten hag wanted from his players in terms pressing high up the pitch and tracking back, he wasn't that bad when he was played further forward in midfield, he was a bit like park ji sung.
Nope
We should cash in on Maguire and McTominay whilst their in form as well. Ultimately not good enough, years of games tell us that cash in whilst we can.
We should cash in on Maguire and McTominay whilst their in form as well. Ultimately not good enough, years of games tell us that cash in whilst we can.
The Murtough clearing the deadwood masterstroke. Selling Fred for 8M and investing 65M into Mount. That buffoon needs to be tried for human rights violations for the crimes he committed in the transfer market.
The title of the thread should be, “Failing to replace Fred was a mistake” or “Replacing Fred with the options we signed was a mistake”.
Which is a huge indictment on everyone involved in recruitment including the Manager.
Which is a huge indictment on everyone involved in recruitment including the Manager.
feck me lads he was shit get over it. Fred is not the answer to our problems.
Replacing a cm with a number 10 didn't workout its not like a lot of us didn't see it coming from a mile away.
Selling Fred was a mistake....because we have't replaced him appropriately. Because he has not been properly replaced, we miss his running and pressing ability for sure. I think we'd be better off this season if we stilll had those abilities in midfield.
Thats not true though is it. Other players had interest from premier league teams such as McTom and Maguire and we simply didnt want to sell them for what was offered even at much higher prices than we got for Fred. He was let go for £8.3 million to Turkey. We got double that for Elanga
People getting entrenched on the good Fred/bad Fred divide, but over all he was one of our better midfielders and there were others who should have gone before Fred. We miss him for his energy, tenacity and work rate.
Just like with Smalling, Fred was first out the door as teams actually wanted him. Selling him was totally the correct decision, it’s the simple and obvious failure to replace him appropriately which has once again shown how woefully run we are.
I would say De Gea and Ronaldo needed to go when they did, so even if their replacements ended up not being the right move I still wouldn't say it was a mistake. Fred is different, in that I don't think he 'needed' to go. He was a good player to have in the squad and was one of our better players in his position (not necessarily in the starting 11, but arguably our best back-up option). Ultimately we want to continue improving so he would have dropped further down the pecking order, but selling him is only right if that is definitely happening. As it turns out, it didn't.
To be fair, I think the difference was more that both wanted to leave once they were told they were being dropped down the pecking order. We 'could' have sold other players (such as McTominay this season) but those players didn't want to leave so we just ended up doing the 'easy' deal.
It just turns out that both Smalling and Fred would have still been our best option and were replaced by worse players (early to say for Mount, but Fred would have bought a better balance than what we've seen from Mount & McTominay so far).
Not to say that he was a great replacement or is a million times better but the player who did replace him in Mount has been injured and unavailable a lot. If we had signed Rice for example and he'd played the same 4 starts and 4 sub appearances that Mount has had (3 more starts in league cup and champions league) it still wouldnt have been that good. Thats the same amount of starts as Luke Shaw who again hasnt played enough this season.
Amrabat would be the 2nd replacement and he's not been that much worse than Fred was last season. He lacks the mobility, but is far stronger. Fred was terrible in the first half of the season, worse than Amrabat is now.
First month or so of the season maybe, and even then it'd be debatable. I certainly wouldn't say it was the entire first half of the season.
He is not a good enough midfielder for where we want to be, but yes, I think it was a mistake selling him last season. He was always available, and with all our injuries, he could've come in very handy, considering how overrun and dominated in midfield we get each week. He was a pain in the ass to play against for the opposition, but now they can just build up attacks at whatever pace they want. He only had one injury during his time here, where he was out of 5 games, and covid as well where he missed 2 games.
For most of his time here, we used Fred in roles not suited to him. We played him both as a defensive midfielder, a work horse and a deep lying playmaker all at once, but surprisingly managed to do a decent job, especially when you consider he had McTominay next to him. His problem was inconsistency. He could have games where he looked insanely good, only to lose the ball 5 times within 90 seconds in the next.
At the end of the day, he didn't want to play a minor role for us and wanted to play more, which is understandable. Not surprised to see Fenerbahce doing well.
For most of his time here, we used Fred in roles not suited to him. We played him both as a defensive midfielder, a work horse and a deep lying playmaker all at once, but surprisingly managed to do a decent job, especially when you consider he had McTominay next to him. His problem was inconsistency. He could have games where he looked insanely good, only to lose the ball 5 times within 90 seconds in the next.
At the end of the day, he didn't want to play a minor role for us and wanted to play more, which is understandable. Not surprised to see Fenerbahce doing well.
Come off it, he was shit. Keeping a 5/10 midfielder because your other midfielders are also 5/10 makes no sense. Fred was clumsy, slow witted and crap at passing. If all you want is his energy (which was hardly mind blowing anyway) then play an academy kid.
I wish we could bring in a half decent player to replace him, but if that's not possible then shifting him on is better than keeping him. We'd be no better off in the league with him for sure.
I wish we could bring in a half decent player to replace him, but if that's not possible then shifting him on is better than keeping him. We'd be no better off in the league with him for sure.