Fred can’t stop talking about Manchester City and Pep Guardiola. If the Brazilian gets his way he’ll have an offer from the Premier League leaders soon, but perhaps also from Manchester United.
In a series of interviews recently Fred has talked up City interest repeatedly, and also made it clear he’d be keen on playing for Mourinho.
The 24 year old would love to be in the situation Alexis Sanchez has found himself in over the past week, with Manchester City and Manchester United tussling for him, but all the enthusiasm could simply be based on press rumours.
Just over a week ago the Shakhtar Donetsk player spoke to Brazilian TV, was asked about alleged Guardiola interest, as reported in the English media, and said: “The objective is to go to England. There’s some speculation, we are seeing what is the best way for us. With God’s will, it’s going to be all right.”
He then spoke to Globo Esporte’s website, and added: “England has the most disputed league in the world, I have the wish to play there. It could fit me well. It would be important to play the English league with one of the great managers. It’s a dream I have.
“A great manager like Guardiola and a great team like City that has been doing this job this year. Surely I would grow a lot with him. I have a lot to grow.
“For me it was well received (the rumour), especially on Christmas Eve. Now I’ll continue doing my work for Shaktar so then, yes, I’ll be well seen by everyone.”
At the time we suggested Fred may be left disappointed, reading too much into media rumours. Since then he’s carried on.
A couple of days later the Brazilian website had more comments for Fred about Manchester City: “A friend of mine told me the news that City was interested, Guardiola. I am very happy, I see that my football is being well seen in Europe. I am very happy with this.”
On whether there’d been any contact, Fred said: “No, not yet. Just the same interest. My agent did not give me anything, but I’m calm. I renewed my contract at Shakhtar too, it’s another five years of contract. I’m happy, I want to continue showing my football in the Champions League. If there’s any interest, I’ll talk to my agent, my family, but I’m pretty cool about it.”
Again, speaking about Guardiola, Fred said: “After the victory over Manchester City, I met with Guardiola and he congratulated me for the qualification. I saw afterwards that he praised Shakhtar a lot. For me, it is a great pleasure to be praised by the best coach in the world. It’s an immense joy.”
Lance then put it to Fred that, according to the English media, Guardiola is interested in him to replace Yaya Toure and/or Fernandinho, and asked the Shakhtar player if there’s been contact: “No contact yet. I just heard from the press too. But it is an immense happiness to hear this from Guardiola. I hope that it can become a proposal and something to be realised.”
Asked if there’s any deal ahead and how he’d feel playing with Gabriel Jesus, Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero, Fred said: “My agent has not come to me yet, and as far as I know, there is nothing yet. But of course I see it with good eyes. You can’t not be enthusiastic, it’s a great team, the leader of the English championship. It’s a joy to be praised by a coach like Guardiola, who says I can play in such a team. That I will always see with good eyes.”
Then, to ramp things up further, Lance told Fred that Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is also keen, to which the Brazilian replied: “It’s hard to choose. They are two coaches who today are among the best. I cannot say, they are among the top three technicians in the world. Guardiola, Mourinho and Tite are in a great phase… It’s difficult to choose, I would have to talk, sit down, consider, put on paper the club in which I would play more often. There’s no way I can talk now about which would be better.”
Not done there, Fred has now spoken to Gazzetta dello Sport, and was asked about Guardiola being keen: “Yes, a friend gave me the news saying that City and Guardiola were interested in me. I am happy to be so well known in Europe. But I renewed with Shakhtar for five years. If there is any interest I will talk with my agent, and the family. But I’m calm.”
On Guardiola praising him after the Shakhtar match, Fred said: “Yes, at the exit of the dressing room. He stopped me and said we had a good game, as they are a very difficult team to beat. But he didn’t ask me to play with him. However, I confess, I wait impatiently for his phone call to arrive now. I think I would grow a lot with him, with England one of the big tournaments in the world, and I always dreamed of playing there.”
This is all set up for another Manchester City versus Manchester United saga, and one which the player will clearly happily encourage. How long before he’s commenting on Chelsea interest?
