Skip to main content

Brazil boss Tite has revealed Manchester United's newest signing, Fred, was not afforded game time at the World Cup due to an injury which impacted his match fitness.

The Seleção plummeted out of the World Cup on Friday after falling to defeat at the hands of Belgium in the quarter final, leaving Tite to pick up the pieces as criticism over his team selection reached boiling point. 

fbl-bra-training-5b40711b7134f6d88c00000a.jpg

The 25-year-old picked up an ankle injury on the eve of Brazil's World Cup campaign following a clash with Casemiro during training at Tottenham's base, ensuring the former Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder failed to make an appearance in any of their five games in Russia. 

Speaking following the defeat to Belgium after being questioned on his team selection, Tite said, via UOL: "Fred had a one-stroke problem and he was unable to make a full recovery.

"In general terms and physical, the team flew in. It was not the physical aspect that was decisive in defeat." 

The criticism comes after Tite failed to replace Fred in the final 23-man squad as he had up until 24 hours prior to Brazil's first appearance in the tournament to make a change, a game which came ten days following the United man's injury. 

Thus, the decision to go ahead with managing Fred's injury despite being unable to identify a specific recovery time has led to widespread disapproval following Brazil's early exit from the competition

Renato Augusto was a victim of a similar incident after sustaining inflammation to his knee during training, resulting in just 50 minutes of playing time in Russia.

"The way we work sometimes causes a lot of contact, we slow down the field, the accelerations are higher. Maybe if I had opted for light training I would not have hurt Fred, maybe Renato. 

"Excellence is high rotation, and fortunately the two are well," he added.