Manchester United

Manchester United

Premier League • England

Fred reveals Man Utd player clique in candid response to talk of Old Trafford rift

Manchester United midfielder Fred has responded to talk of a rift among the players during a difficult season for the club.

A report over the weekend suggested that the dressing room is a divided one, coming off of a 2-2 draw at Aston Villa that United led 2-0 before the home side’s late charge to earn a Premier League point.

The combative midfielder was speaking to ESPN Brasil’s Bola da Vez show, during which he revealed the current mood among the team.

The 28-year-old laughed when asked if there was an issue in the squad. However, he did admit that the players from Brazil and Portugal, the likes of Alex Telles, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Dalot and himself were all pretty close.

But he added that does mean there is no interaction with other players in the group, as was reported.

Fred told ESPN Brasil: “The news here, they like fake news. There’s too much here. It’s a lie.

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“It’s obvious that we speak Portuguese, we communicate, we have a nice friendship. I’m a good friend of Alex Telles, both on and off the field. I’ve known him for a long time. So obviously I’m going to be a little friend of his.

United dressing room always dancing

“But that doesn’t mean I won’t talk to Lingard, Rashford, Greenwood, Maguire, the other English people here. On the contrary. We have a super cool friendship here, a super cool dressing room, they’re all teammates. We’re always dancing in the locker room, whenever we have the team dinner. Now we’re not doing that because of Covid-19.”

Fred also discussed his future at the club, when asked if he could soon return to his homeland.

He added: “Maybe in the future, I don’t know yet. I left Brazil very early, I had a very short career. I still want to play in Brazil. I didn’t play, for example, a Conmebol Libertadores. I didn’t have that privilege. I played one or two games of Copa do Brasil, a few Brazilian League games and then I left Brazil.”

Fred has a contract with United that runs until 2023 and is likely to be in the starting line-up again when the Red Devils head to Brentford in the Premier League on Wednesday evening.

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