Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hopes Fred can 'kick-start' his Manchester United career against Astana in their Europa League group stage opener.
Fred, 26, missed the Perth leg of United's pre-season tour to get married in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and failed to make any of the four matchday squads last month.
However, Fred was named as a substitute against Leicester on Saturday and had a positive impact after he replaced Nemanja Matic in the 67th minute of the 1-0 victory.
The Brazil international is set to start for United against Kazakh outfit Astana at Old Trafford on Thursday night and Solskjaer is optimistic Fred can build on his telepathy with fellow midfielder Scott McTominay.
"You're picking my team here now, I might as well give it!" Solskjaer laughed when asked about Fred potentially starting. "Obviously, Fred came on and did well in the 20 minutes [against Leicester].
"We needed his legs and sharpness, and he's been patient, he's been working hard, he's not a young boy but he's still young in his English career and hopefully he will kick-start his season tomorrow.
"I'm sure we'll see more and more of Fred. We spoke about it earlier, he's had some great games in midfield with Scott against PSG and Arsenal, for example, and we're just waiting for that to flourish."
David de Gea will take the night off against Astana to allow Sergio Romero to reclaim his Europa League place just over two years on from his start in the final triumph over Ajax.
De Gea signed a four-year contract on Monday and Solskjaer believes the Spaniard's focus was apparent in the weekend win against Leicester.
"Most of the time we get to keep the ones we want to keep," Solskjaer explained. "And the longer it went but the more I got to listen in and speak to David I was pretty confident we were going to make it.
"David's delighted and you could see by his performance against Leicester he'd made up his mind. And you could see the focus in his eyes again, it gives everyone that place in front of him. Ask Axel [Tuanzebe, sat next to him], it gives a boost because you do feel very secure with a focused David in behind you.
"He's worked really hard this season and with Richard [Hartis] coming in as a coach with Emilio [Alvarez], I think we're going to see more of him, we're on a path to building him up.
"He's still young. Edwin [van der Sar] signed for us when he was 35. I'm sure David will be part of a successful Man United team."
