Fred: My first goal felt amazing'

Manchester United’s summer recruit, Fred, has explained the reason behind his goal celebration last weekend against Wolves.

The Brazilian’s strike was his first for the club since moving from Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer and he marked the occasion by putting the ball up his shirt.

While Fred and the rest of his team-mates were disappointed that United did not take all three points from the game, the midfielder admits it was a special moment to see his right-footed shot find the net at Old Trafford.

“I was really happy,” Fred told MUTV ahead of Saturday’s clash against West Ham.

“I even had the chance to dedicate it to my son that will be born soon. This goal was really important to me and I hope is the first of many.

“I’m still adapting to many things and in the previous games I wasn’t playing as well as I was playing before I joined the club. Now I feel much better and to be able to score my first goal was really amazing.”

Fred could add to his account when the Reds travel to the London Stadium this weekend, where the 25-year-old hopes United can bounce back from the midweek defeat to Derby County.

“Nobody wants to lose,” he said. “We want to win always and when we lose it is very sad, but we cannot let this beat us down. We need to put our heads up, train harder so we do not let this happen again.

“It’s a lesson to learn. We need to learn and to keep this feeling in our minds so we can be stronger for the next game.

“We are ready (for West Ham). Every game in the Premier League is a fight, is a hard game and against West Ham it won’t be different. It’s a great team that have new players for this season.

“They are strong but we are Manchester United and we won’t let our heads go down against any team. We need to be strong mentally and tactically.

Fred is also looking forward to coming up against his his former team-mate Felipe Anderson, who joined West Ham in the summer from Lazio.

“He is a guy that has been playing with me since 2009 in the Brazilian squad,“ said the Reds star. ”We played in the Copa America together, and the Olympic Games. He is a guy that I admire a lot, he is a dear friend of mine.

“When he signed with West Ham and I signed with Man United we spoke about playing against each other. I wish all the best for him in this team, I hope he is also adapting really well. But in the game against us, (I hope) the victory will be ours, not theirs.“