Bad for Manchester United not to have long-term plan – Fred

Midfielder Fred has expressed concerns about Manchester United’s long-term planning, admitting “it is a bit strange” to be under an interim manager for the rest of the season.

Having parted company with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November, Ralf Rangnick was handed the reins for the remainder of the 2021-22 campaign before he starts a two-year consultancy role with the club.

United are currently in Spain preparing to take on Atletico Madrid in their first Champions League last-16 appearance since 2019, when they were also playing under a caretaker boss.

Solskjaer got the permanent job shortly after that jaw-dropping triumph against Paris St Germain and Fred is surprised the club are back in the same situation.

“It is a bit strange,” he told TNT Sports Brazil. “I know in football it’s important to get good results as soon as possible, but it’s also important to have a long-term plan.

“I think it’s a little bit bad for us not to have one, at the moment it’s all about the short-term goals. We don’t know how it’s going to be after the end of this season.”

Fred’s comments come as United face up to the prospect of another trophyless season unless they upset the odds and go all the way in the Champions League.

“Every player that comes to this club wants to win titles,” said Fred, who joined from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2018 – a year after the club’s last trophy.

“It’s the same with me, Bruno (Fernandes), Alex (Telles), Cristiano (Ronaldo), (Jadon) Sancho, all of us. We want trophies but it’s been a long drought.

“With all due respect to Villarreal, it was our job to win that Europa League final and we failed. It’s about having a better football planning on the club.

“If you don’t want to win titles you don’t deserve to play for Manchester United. We’re still in the Champions League but let’s see if we arrive better on next season to find our peak football.”

Asked if it is crazy to picture United winning this Champions League this year, Fred said: “I don’t think so.

“I know we’re not playing our best football, but we have a lot of quality names in our squad. I see many other teams playing far off from their best as well.

“(To win it) wouldn’t be crazy, it could happen, but we have to work our socks off because we’re far away from being one of the favourites in this competition.”