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Owen Hargreaves labels Manchester United's Fred as the "complete midfield player"

Fred

Owen Hargreaves has praised Manchester United midfielder Fred for turning his Premier League career around.

The Brazilian endured a hugely disappointing debut season at Old Trafford following a £50m move from Shakhtar Donetsk in summer 2018.

However, Fred has become an integral member of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side this term - and Hargreaves believes his improvement is down to a change of role.

“He’s a complete midfield player but if he can add goals to his game then he’ll be the perfect midfield player," he told Premier League Productions.

“In possession he’s very good, out of possession he’s really aggressive and now the players around him are functioning which is a really good sign.

“I think because they paid £50m for Fred and he’s Brazilian that people thought he was a No.10 but he isn’t.

“He’s not a goalscorer and he’s not really creative but what he is is a really good midfield player. He’s two-footed and now we’re seeing the player that was at Shakhtar, where in the Champions League he put in some brilliant performances against the best teams.

“He’s energetic without the ball and now with [Nemanja] Matic as a sitter Fred can be box-to-box, before he was too high and sometimes too deep but now this is a midfield three [Matic, Fred, Bruno Fernandes] it’s balanced, everyone feels comfortable.”

Solskjaer's side are also in the FA Cup quarter-finals, where they were due to face Norwich next weekend.

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Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).