Brazil international Fred opted not to select any Manchester United defenders when naming the best teammates he has played alongside at club level.
The 29-year-old is now into his fifth season at Old Trafford but is still waiting to win his first major trophy with the club. Erik ten Hag is the fourth United boss he has played under having also featured under Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.
Currently featuring prominently in the Brazil squad at this winter’s World Cup, Fred began his senior career at local club Internacional before spending five seasons at Shakhtar Donetsk, where he won six trophies including three Ukrainian league titles.
The combative midfielder was asked by Brazilian media outlet GE Globo to name the best line-up of players he has played alongside at club level. Fred named five players that he had played alongside at United but notably, did not select any defenders in the line-up.
David De Gea was selected as goalkeeper but there was no space for the likes of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Raphael Varane, Diogo Dalot or Luke Shaw in Fred’s line-up, with all four selected defenders being his former teammates at Internacional.
Fred named left-back Kleber, right-back Gabriel and central defensive duo Indio and Juan in the heart of his defence. Selecting an entire defence of his former Brazil-based teammates is perhaps instructive of where the midfielder believes United’s struggles in recent years have come from.
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His former United midfield partner Paul Pogba was named in the XI alongside former Internacional teammate Guinazu while three of the four attacking players named in the line-up had previously played for United.
Bruno Fernandes was the only current Red Devils outfield star named in the XI, which also featured Cristiano Ronaldo and Juan Mata. Diego Forlan, who played alongside Fred at Internacional having previously played for United, was also included.
Interestingly, Fred did not name any of his former Shakhtar Donetsk teammates in the line-up that he opted to select. He played alongside a host of star players in Ukraine including Taison, Douglas Costa, Luiz Adriano, Darijo Srna, Eduardo, Facundo Ferreyra, Alex Teixeira, Fernando and Taras Stepanenko.
