Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has challenged Fred to fill the troublesome void left by ankle injuries to his first choice midfielders Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay ahead of a critical run of fixtures.

Pogba is not expected back until mid-December at the earliest while McTominay could miss Jose Mourinho’s return to Old Trafford with Tottenham Hotspur and the Manchester derby early next month in addition to Sunday's trip to Bramall Lane to face Sheffield United and the visit of Aston Villa a week later.

Nemanja Matic has also only just returned to full training after a near seven week lay-off and the situation leaves Solskjaer chronically short of quality options in midfield.

But the United manager has been encouraged by Fred’s marked improvement in recent weeks after a torrid transition to English football and believes the Brazil midfielder is slowly starting to show why the club paid Shakhtar Donetsk £52 million for him last year.

“First of all, the price tag, that is none of Fred’s concern, and it shouldn’t be because that is just how football has gone,” Solskjaer said. “The prices nowadays, you think, ‘Hmm’ but the market today is different to what it was. That shouldn’t be on Fred, that should be on us.