Maybe come next May, when Manchester United hold their end of season awards ceremony at Old Trafford, Fred will be called up to the stage to receive a prize. But it does not feel very likely right now. The midfielder cannot even get in the team.

There are 52 million reasons why there is puzzlement that the fifth most expensive player in United’s long and illustrious history is, almost a third of the way into the Premier League campaign, far from integral to Jose Mourinho’s plans. But it boils down to this - why did United pay that £52million for a player who they, apparently, did not need in a position where they are over-stocked?

Given Fred arrived from Shakhtar Donetsk then it is being argued that he is taking time adjusting from the Ukrainian league to the Premier League and although the quality of the league he left has dropped considerably in recent years the greater adaptation was surely the one he has already been through – moving from Brazil to eastern Europe?

It is a well-trodden path and Fred may draw encouragement from how important his countryman, and another former Shakhtar player, Fernandinho, is to Manchester City. Fernandinho was the dominant midfielder in Sunday’s Manchester derby, a game that Fred watched, as appears to be his station at present, unused from the bench.

Fernandinho was 28, older than Fred, when he joined City. But Fred is no kid. He is 25 and, in fact, was bought by Shakhtar as Fernandinho’s replacement. Last January it looked like he would follow him again with City negotiating to sign Fred although the deal never happened partly because Shakhtar were still in the Champions League and were reluctant to sell at that time.