Fred and Brazil could decide Donny van de Beek’s Manchester United future

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer thinks Scott McTominay and Fred are ‘instrumental’ in midfield for Manchester United, however, if you enter the bustling The Trafford pub on matchday, supporters might give you an entirely different verdict to the United boss on the pair.

Although United enjoyed a stellar transfer window by signing Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, which was reminiscent of how the club behaved under Sir Alex Ferguson, an all too familiar problem has resurfaced across United’s opening games of the new season – the midfield is still unbalanced and it remains United’s glaring weak spot.

Solskjaer has become synonymous with the 4-2-3-1 formation across his tenure at Old Trafford and he’s relied on the double pivot system to underpin United’s progress in recent years, however, its limitations became – frustratingly – abundantly clear long ago.

Solskjaer picks between Nemanja Matic, McTominay and Fred for those two positions and it’s usually the latter two that are included in United’s starting XI, with the duo establishing themselves as the United boss’ trusted pair in the pivot for the big occasion.

After multiple recent underwhelming performances, though, United have a few ‘big occasions’ on the horizon in the fixture list.

The Reds are set to play Leicester, Atalanta , Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea across November and it almost seems inevitable that Solskjaer will ask McTominay and Fred to provide United with their axis in the base of midfield.

Neither player is a specialist in that position, which has led to United becoming vulnerable at the back in games under Solskjaer, just like when both started against Everton and yet United were easily caught on the counter-attack, for example.

Fred has often unfairly been made into a scapegoat at United, however, his recent displays in a United shirt simply haven’t been good enough and yet, despite Donny van de Beek’s appealing glimpses in matches, he still started in United’s hosting of Everton.

Van de Beek’s struggles since his £40m arrival from Ajax last summer are well documented, but the Dutchman sought to reroute the unfortunate path his United career was taking in pre-season when working tirelessly to improve his physique, also adapting aspects of his game at Carrington that would enable him to excel in a deeper role to his preferred No.10 spot.

While Van de Beek has displayed glimpses of his efforts in matches, he was United’s standout performer against West Ham in the Carabao Cup, Solskjaer has since persisted with Fred, which has been a questionable, dubious stance from the Norwegian.

Should Van de Beek start against Leicester? Let us know your thoughts in the comment below.

However, Fred could be unavailable for selection when United play Leicester after the international break because he’s on duty with Brazil, with his nation’s final World Cup qualifier just 38 hours before Solskjaer’s side visit the King Power Stadium.

If Fred does miss that clash, does Solskjaer play Van de Beek or Matic alongside McTominay in the double pivot?

The answer to that question could decide Van de Beek’s future at the club.

If Solskjaer snubs Van de Beek in that fixture, the writing could be on the wall regarding his future come the January window.