Man United can give Kobbie Mainoo the perfect partner by replacing £50m star he played with for just an hour

Gary Neville was right about Fred, Roy Keane was wrong and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer proved it in that recent interview with the pair.

The three Manchester United greats sat around a table for Neville's Sky Sports podcast and Solskjaer's effusive praise of the Brazilian raised an eyebrow with Keane. The former United skipper jokingly checked Solskjaer's glass of water to check it didn't contain alcohol after Solskjaer said Fred – often lambasted during his United spell and finally sold last summer – was always a seven or eight out of 10.

The Norwegian always trusted Fred, as he trusted Scott McTominay, despite almost constant pressure to drop one or the other.

Neville had spoken previously about the Brazilian and why, like Keane, many fans were never sold on him.

ALSO READ: The inside story of Jesse Lingard's shock move to the K-League

ALSO READ: Why Ten Hag is not surprised by Mainoo's impact for England

"The problem has never been, to be fair, Fred's commitment, his levels of performance," Neville said last season. "I know people are critical of him, but he does what he does very well.

"Every club at the top of the league has a Fred, but they don't ordinarily pay £60m for the player. And I think that's the problem, that you expect more when you pay that sort of money. But I think he's been very good this last 12-18 months, even two or three years to be fair.

"Whoever the manager has been while Fred's been there, they've always picked him. So [the critics] can continue to keep saying Fred shouldn't be a Manchester United player, but everyone keeps picking him because obviously, he's a good trainer and a good lad.

"Fred isn't the problem at Manchester United. He's one of the ones that’s been consistent in performance