Jose Mourinho was reportedly against Manchester United signing Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk last year.

The now departed manager did not want the club to splash out £52million on the Brazilian, who is yet to impress at Old Trafford.

Mourinho was given plenty of flak for signing Fred but in reality never wanted the central midfielder, according to The Athletic.

Jose Mourinho reportedly never wanted Fred to join Manchester United last year

Mourinho was concerned that the 26-year-old would not cut it at the club but feared that Ed Woodward would not sanction the addition of another midfielder if he refused.

And the former Shakhtar man unsurprisingly struggled for game time under his old manager.

He played once in the final six games before Mourinho was sacked and has also failed to nail down a place in the first team under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Fred has not managed to settle in at Manchester United and is searching for his best form

The United boss is still confident that Fred has the ability to turn his trajectory around.

'Well, I think you're not surprised when a player who has played in Ukraine finds it a little bit hard in the beginning,' the Norwegian said recently.

'But we know the talent is there. We've seen, towards the end of [last] season, what Fred can give us: the PSG game, the Arsenal and Man City games.

'And, of course, he's one that we hope is going to take another step this season.

'Hopefully, missing 10 days of our pre-season [to get married] won't set him back too much.'