Manchester United and Brazil fans look set to breathe a collective sigh of relief after it has been revealed by Marcelo that new-boy Fred’s ankle injury is not as serious as first thought.

Images of Fred screaming in pain following a sliding tackle from Casemiro emerged on Thursday, a worrying sight for everyone at Brazil and United – with the World Cup less than a week away and the Red Devils forking out a whopping £52m for his services this week.

It leaves everyone with an anxious wait over the midfielder’s fitness, but speaking in an interview team-mate Marcelo has shed some light on the situation and eased fears that the injury is severe.

“This is the World Cup,” he said. “Everybody’s training hard, working hard and there are these moments in training.

“But I believe it’s not that serious, I believe it’s not a big problem for us and I think he’ll be back with us as soon as possible.”

However, despite Marcelo’s assessment of the situation, nothing is confirmed just yet, and Brazil’s medical staff are still waiting to make a full assessment.

Team doctor Rodrigo Lasmar confirmed that Fred will undergo further tests on Friday.

“If tomorrow he continues in pain and some signal makes us more alert, we may need an imaging examination, but there is no strategy whether it will be here or in Austria,” he said. “Tomorrow we will have a clearer possibility.

“He has had an ankle trauma, but it is still too early for any evaluation, he has already begun the recovery work, he had that part in real pain.

“It’s early for any diagnosis, we need to wait for more.

“The first 24 hours are crucial, tomorrow we will see how he will feel, the response to treatment, whether he will train or not.”
[Quotes via MEN]