OFFICIAL: Manchester United Announce Fred Signing

After a long waiting period where fans were beginning to get worried about the future of the deal, Manchester United finally have confirmation on their second summer arrival.

Fred has officially been signed by the club, with an official statement on their website reading: “Manchester United is delighted to announce it has finalised the transfer of Frederico Rodrigues de Paula Santos (Fred) from Shakhtar Donetsk.”

The report added that a five-year-long deal had been penned by the 25-year-old, with an option to extend for a further year – a staple of most United contracts these days.

The Brazilian is currently in Russia, and has so far been an unused substitute in his nation’s first match in the World Cup against Switzerland, which ended 1-1.

WATCH: Fred Deal Confirmed, Alderweireld & Gareth Bale Next

https://youtu.be/zpjW7Nw87gM

Fred had this to say about the move: “This is the biggest club in the world and I am delighted to be a part of this amazing team. To work with Jose Mourinho, who has won so many trophies in his time as a coach, is an opportunity not to be missed. I cannot wait to get started and to meet my new team-mates.”

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He also added: “I would like to thank everyone at Shakhtar Donetsk for everything they have done for me over the past five years. This is a very exciting time for me, with my focus now fully on the World Cup with Brazil.”

Jose Mourinho seemed quite happy to have finally landed his Brazilian: “Fred will complement our other midfielders’ qualities, which we need; his creative brain and passing vision will give us another dimension to our game. I am very happy he is joining our club and I believe our players know how important he can be in our team.”

Now the focus will have shifted to United’s next arrivals. Long-touted target Gareth Bale seems increasingly likely to be the first of these, with the Welshman’s attacking specialty now looking to be more and more needed for a United side that badly needs a match-winner. This may be aided by a change of guard at Real Madrid.

Similarly, a leader in the defense may arrive in the form of Toby Alderweireld, despite claims that Tottenham are playing dreadful hardball with United over his price tag. His defensive capabilities were blatant during Belgium’s sole World Cup game as well, and United will really benefit from this piece of business.

Will United have a squad to reckon with at the end of this window?