Manchester United midfielder Fred has appeared to take a little dig at manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to continually pick Jesse Lingard ahead of him.
The Brazilian – a £52million signing last summer, the fifth biggest in United’s history – has not been picked in a single matchday squad so far this season despite the club clearing out lots of their deadwood.
Ander Herrera, Alexis Sanchez, Antonio Valencia and many others left over the summer, while the only reinforcements were in defence, yet still Fred has not got a look in.
Instead, the likes of Scott McTominay, Andreas Pereira, Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata have been preferred to Fred in the midfield roles alongside star man Paul Pogba.
Fred seemed to hint at his frustration with his current situation on Instagram this week, ‘liking’ a comment from a fan which read: ‘Fred better than Lingard’.
It is not the first time a United player has used Instagram to vent recently, with Nemanja Matic appearing to question his own lack of game time under Solskjaer.
Lingard was actually dropped for United’s recent draw with Southampton at the weekend, though there have been reports that he wants Sanchez’s old No.7 shirt now the Chilean has left – something former United striker Louis Saha wasn’t impressed by.
Speaking on Stadium Astro, he said: ‘I mean, no disrespect, Jesse’s a player from the academy and he’s been there a long time, he understands. But it’s not just something that you just claim.
‘It’s something that people give to you for some reason because you now have attached to your back something that represents the club, you represent the club, the history and all that. You can’t take that lightly, it’s not just about you thinking that you have the potential.’
