Manchester United midfielder Fred says the club enjoyed a "great season" in spite of coming away empty-handed, after a campaign that saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side extend their trophy drought to four years.
The Red Devils showed some improvement in the 2020-21 campaign, securing consecutive top-three finishes under the Norwegian and reaching their first major final since Jose Mourinho's reign.
A penalty shootout defeat to Villarreal in the Europa League final took the gloss off, but Brazil international Fred still feels United can chalk it up as a successful year even without silverware.
What has been said?
“Definitely, for me the team's done really well and been growing over the season," the Selecao star, who is with Tite's side ahead of the Copa America, told United's official website.
"We didn't start that well as we didn't have a pre-season. We had the Europa League semi-final which prolonged [our last term]. We didn't have a pre-season and got better and better over the season and reached the final.
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"I think overall the team's had a great season, we could have achieved more, we wanted to win more trophies, but I think generally it's been a great season.”
Fred delighted to make starting XI
The 28-year-old arguably enjoyed his best season in Red Devils colours following his 2018 arrival from Shakhtar Donetsk, and established himself as one of Solskjaer's go-to men in the middle in the Norwegian's favoured 4-2-3-1 formation.
The uptick in minutes has only made the midfielder more determined to kick on, adding: “It's really important to me to be starting in games, to be in the eleven.
"I've played and started in a lot of games this season. I'm really happy with this, happy to have been in good form and having a great season together with the entire team.
"As I've already said, I want much more, more trophies with United, I want to achieve a lot here and I'm sure there's a lot more to come.”