Fred’s former team-mates were understood to be shocked by his move to Manchester United, according to reports.
The Brazilian has only made three appearance since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took caretaker charge of the Red Devils in December.
In fact, Fred barely featured for Solskjaer’s predecessor, Jose Mourinho, who signed him in the summer from Shakhtar Donetsk for a huge £52million fee.
And ESPN have claimed that there were some ‘raised eyebrows’ among Fred’s former team-mates at Shakhtar over his big-money move to Old Trafford.
However, United weren’t the only side interested in his services with Manchester City and Pep Guardiola reportedly keen to bring him to the Etihad Stadium.
Solskjaer recently likened Diego Forlan and Juan Sebastian Veron’s starts at United to that of Fred’s but the Brazil international has not made another appearance under the Norwegian since.
“There’s loads of players that have come in and found the first few months difficult,” Solskjaer said in January.
“One of the best players I’ve played with that struggled the most was Diego Forlan. Veron [is another] you know, those 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.”