Mourinho never wanted to sign Man Utd flop Fred but didn’t use veto power to stop £52m transfer

JOSE MOURINHO did not want to sign Fred for Manchester United but decided not to veto the move, it has been claimed.

The Red Devils signed the Brazilian for £52million from Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer of 2018 but the 26-year-old has flattered to deceive ever since.

Having been in the hotseat when Fred was bought in, The Special One has received a lot of criticism for the signing but reportedly had his own reservations before the deal was completed.

But Mourinho was so worried United would not bring in another midfielder if he vetoed the move that he kept his mouth shut, according to the .

Fred featured just once in the last six games of Mourinho's tenure and has started just eight times under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Portuguese boss had the power to pull the plug on signings but was reportedly wary he would not receive backing from the club's hierarchy to bring in an alternative if he canned the deal.

Despite having been at the club for more than a year, Solskjaer recently came out in defence of the flop.

He said: "Well, I think you’re not surprised when a player who has played in Ukraine finds it a little bit hard in the beginning.

"But we know the talent is there.

"We’ve seen, towards the end of [last] season, what Fred can give us: the PSG game, the Arsenal and Man City games.

"And, of course, he’s one that we hope is going to take another step this season.

"Hopefully, missing 10 days of our pre-season [to get married] won’t set him back too much."