COMMENT: If you're looking for a success story from this Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era, you can't do much better than Fred. But it isn't just this Solskjaer reign where he's having an impact. As far as Brazilians go, the No17 is breaking the mould at Manchester United...

Are we watching history as Fred establishes himself as a United first-choice? Is this midfielder, now 27, the best Brazilian to pull on the Red shirt of United? And if so, can we say Solskjaer has achieved what his great mentor and role-model, Sir Alex Ferguson, couldn't at Old Trafford?

To be fair, there isn't a long list to choose from. Indeed, just eight Brazilians have tasted first team football at United. The first, Kleberson, only made his way to the club in 2003. Then came Anderson, the Da Silva twins and Rodrigo Possebon. Like those five, Belgium born-and-raised Andreas Pereira was also a Fergie era signing, though didn't taste first team football until after his retirement. Then came Fred, via Jose Mourinho, and finally the latest Selecao ace Alex Telles from Porto.

So there isn't a lot. But that's not to say Ferguson didn't rate or want to work with Brazilians. It was actually the opposite. Just consider how much he pushed to sign Ronaldinho from PSG before Barcelona's intervention. And of course, there was the Desportivo Brasil project. The club is still around, but the partnership no more. The UK's work permit laws proving too difficult for United to navigate. The likes of Gladstony and Lucas Evangelista would spend time at Carrington, but eventually find their way elsewhere in Europe.

“No country can apply the rich mix of ingredients you gain from a top Brazilian player," Ferguson has declared in the past. "Argentines are deeply patriotic but I found they lack the expressive personalities of Brazilians."

Ferguson tried. He really did. But he just couldn't get it to work. Kleberson flopped. Rafael and Fabio da Silva, to varying degrees, were good, dependable players, but no world-beaters. Possebon came and went. Anderson collected as many medals as any player to ever pull on a United shirt - but without ever reaching his potential. Pereira has now been shunted off to Lazio. Which now leaves Fred - and new teammate Telles.

Solskjaer and Fred celebrating another positive moment at United

And like those before him, Fred could easily be running around elsewhere in Europe. Before Solskjaer's arrival. Before the Norwegian's intervention. Fred was a prime candidate to be part of the club's surgical-like clearout. He was barely getting a game under Mourinho. And when he did, the Brazilian was almost a liability. And what's worse, he was becoming a figure of fun, at least for the Blue half of Manchester.

If not for Shakhtar Donetsk's stubbornness over their valuation, Fred would've joined Pep Guardiola's Manchester City six months before Ed Woodward, United's vice-chairman exec, green lit a €55m bid for the player in January 2018. And up until Solskjaer's appointment, the common opinion was that City had dodged a bullet.

But today, this isn't the Fred that Guardiola and City's brainstrust of Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano had scouted while he was running around in Ukraine. The Brazilian is a transformed player. Literally. This isn't about mentality or character. He's always had that. This success story has been Solskjaer's willingness to look at Fred with fresh eyes. To see not the No8 who thrived at Shakhtar under Mircea Lucescu. A player who did his best work in the opposition half. Who worked off the strikers. Arrived late on the end crosses. A style of game, for whatever reason, which couldn't be translated onto an English pitch.

Instead, Solskjaer - with Fred's willingness - saw a ball-winner. A harasser. With his enthusiasm and energy, a player to compete for the 50-50s, even the 30-70s. Still with that eye for a pass, the ability to go past a player, but - dare we say it - a Brazilian to play like your typical Scandinavian midfielder.

"I'm sure Fred covered every little single blade of grass on that pitch," Solskjaer said midweek after their Champions League thumping of RB Leipzig. "It's unbelievable how that boy just recovers for the next game."

And the approach has succeeded. It's the type of development we wouldn't have seen from Fred under Guardiola's command, but would he be a City player today if circumstances had been different?

Instead, in partnership with his manager, Fred has found his place at United and in English football. And with that, he's lifting the bar for Brazilians at Old Trafford. It'll no longer be Kleberson or Anderson they'll be expected to surpass, instead it'll be demanded that any new arrival reach the standards of Fred. He is breaking the mould at United.

Almost three years on, is he a €55m player? No. But Fred had nothing to do with his fee. Nor did Solskjaer. But working together, they have managed to rescue a situation which could've gone down as one of richest mistakes made by United during the Woodward era (and there's been a few).

Instead, we're witnessing one of the big success stories of Solskjaer's time in charge (and again, there's been a few). Fred has just knocked off his 50th Premier League appearance for United and is on track to hit 100 games overall before the end of the season.

It's a landmark he's sure to reach given his current status. A status which will go some way in convincing more Brazilians, like Alex Telles, to consider a United move in the future.

Ferguson tried. He really did. But it is the current United manager - with the help of his No17 - who is ending the doubts about Brazilians and Manchester United.