From Brazil: Player has verbal agreement to join Manchester City, almost completed move in January

Manchester City have reportedly reached a verbal agreement with Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fred.

As reported by reliable Brazilian website UOL this Thursday, there were advanced negotiations to bring the player in the January market. His agents Gilberto Silva and Fabio Mello even traveled to England to close the deal, but couldn’t do it because of the Ukrainian side’s wish.

Shakhtar didn’t want the player to go in the middle of the season, and demanded him to stay at least until the summer. According to UOL, the deal was close to being done for around €35m.

Still, there’s some ‘confidence’ the player will be able to make the move soon.

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Fred is said to be very keen on the transfer, which is very believable give he’s spoken about it repeatedly. He believes his perfect behaviour could help him achieve that, and that’s why he changed agents recently.

As Gilberto Silva once played for Arsenal and has good contacts in England, the player believed he would be a good man to guide his career, even for playing in the same position.

Another reason UOL found to believe that Fred is moving soon is Shakhtar are currently signing midfielder Maycon from Corinthians. During the negotiations, it was said the player is arriving exactly to replace Fred at the club.

Now let’s see if Manchester City will be able to hold that price or if Shakhtar will demand a bigger amount in the summer.