Manchester United have been handed a huge boost on their pursuit of Brazilian midfielder Fred, with Shakhtar Donetsk president Rinat Akhmetov insisting the club will sell the 25-year-old this summer.

Fred has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League, with both Manchester clubs, as well as Arsenal, understood to be keen on landing the Brazil international.

United are favourite’s for his signature after Manchester City have stepped up their pursuit of Napoli’s Jorginho, and Arsenal yet to move any approach for the player.

Talks between United and Shakhtar are ongoing over the transfer of the highly rated midfielder, but club president Rinat Akhmetov suggests things are looking positive and that he fully expects Fred to leave Ukraine this summer.

He said: “We will sell Fred to a good and strong club, do not doubt it.”

The only barrier in United landing their first signing of the summer remains the fee.

It was initially thought the Red Devils would be able to land Fred for a fee of around £25 million, but Akhmetov insists it will be far higher than that – even more than the £43.8m Chinese club Jiangsu Suning paid for Fred’s former team-mate Alex Teixeira in 2016.

Akhmetov concluded: “He will cost the potential buyer more than Fernandinho and be even more expensive than Alex Teixeira.”