Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has compared Fred’s struggles to Manchester United flops Diego Forlan and Sebastian Veron.
Forlan and Veron arrived at Old Trafford with stellar reputations, but failed to live up to expectations and left the club after just two seasons.
Fred has made just 15 appearances for United since completing a £50million move from Shakhtar Donetsk last summer – and he has started just two of Solskjaer’s 13 games in charge.
The Brazilian is behind Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Scott McTominay in the midfield pecking order.
But United interim boss Solskjaer thinks Fred simply needs time to adapt to English football.
Speaking ahead of United’s clash with Liverpool, which is live on talkSPORT this Sunday, Solskjaer told the Manchester Evening News: “We know there’s a very, very good player there with Fred.
“So hopefully he’ll adjust to the English game because there’s no doubt there’s talent, absolutely no doubt.
“There are loads of players that have come in and found the first few months difficult.
“One of the best players I’ve played with that struggled the most was Diego Forlan. Veron [is another] you know, they were two fantastic players and it took a bit of time. But when they settled they performed.
“So I don’t think he needs to worry too much. He’ll get chances.”
Forlan moved to Manchester from Independiente in 2002 and it took him nine months to score his first goal for the club.
Meanwhile, Veron completed a then-English transfer record fee of £28.1million from Lazio the season before.
Both players had their moments in a United shirt, including Forlan’s brace in a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield, but never performed at a consistent level in the Premier League.
United will be hoping Fred, who has four-and-a-half years left on his deal, can turn around his career.