Mircea Lucescu: 'Fred will join Manchester City'

Former Shakhtar Donetsk boss Mircea Lucescu has claimed that Brazilian midfielder Fred will join Manchester City and not Manchester United at the end of the current season.

City were strongly linked with Fred in the latter stages of the January transfer window, but the in-demand attacker ultimately stayed with Shakhtar.

The 24-year-old is being widely tipped to move on at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, however, and it was thought that the Manchester rivals were locked in a battle for his signature.

Lucescu, though, has insisted that Fred will be moving to the Etihad Stadium this summer.

"Shakhtar Donetsk's best player is Fred in the centre of midfield," Lucescu told reporters. "He was a bit anarchic on the left. I moved him in front of the defence. He will go to City like Fernandinho before him."

Fred, who is a six-time Brazil international, has scored twice and registered four assists in 24 appearances for Shakhtar this season.