Comparing athletes based on tribes and traditions can be a dangerous dalliance with carelessness.

Player X inspires similarities with Player Y because they've endured analogous paths to first-team football, or because they're from the same country, or worst, they share an ethnicity.

In the case of Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fred and Manchester City tactical savant Fernandinho, it's a comparison that actually works. Both are defensive midfielders, both are from the southern-half of football mad Brazil and enjoyed budding youth development with local sides, and both have gotten a first taste of European football with the 10-time Ukranian champ.

Shakhtar Donetsk welcomes Roma to its temporary Kharkiv home for the first leg of a Champions League last-16 on Wednesday, and beyond a preview of a potential quarter-final opponent for City, the fixture provides another chance to scout Fred.

It's not like the two parties are unfamiliar with one another. Fred played the full 90 minutes in both the home and away clashes with the runaway Premier League leader in the group stage, including a heady performance in the 2-1 victory that handed City its first defeat of the campaign. Clearly, it was enough to prompt interest from Pep Guardiola and Co.

Shakhtar was reluctant to lose Fred, 24, in the January window without luring a replacement to the club, and time didn't favour the Ukranian side. With reports suggesting that Shakhtar chief executive Sergei Palkin travelled to Manchester to discuss a move in excess of £40 million, Fred's transfer to the Etihad is only a matter of time.

With Yaya Toure on his way out and Fernandinho set to turn 33 during the Premier League run-in in May, a move for Fred makes plenty of sense, especially considering that the No. 6 role is an area of need amid a deep squad littered with countless options.

Like Fernandinho, much of Fred's work is subtle and faint. A defensive midfield rock, Fred breaks up play without being overly physical - evidence of a player who reads the game at an exceptional level. Undersized in comparison to a traditional defensive mid, Fred uses a technically astute skill set to navigate away from trouble. With Shakhtar, Fred is often paired with a more physically imposing partner by manager Paulo Fonseca, a job that is usually reserved for Taras Stepanenko. That allows Fred to join with the attack in Fonseca's preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.

While not a ball-stopper in the mold of a Nemanja Matic or a do-everything, two-places-at-once miracle worker like N'Golo Kante, Fred is a slick passing defensive mid who moves the ball from recovery positions to attacking ones in the blink of an eye. Mousa Dembele may be a fairer comparison. Like his countryman, Fred also fancies a strike from the car park. For a club like Manchester City which dominates possession and profits from the versatility of players, Fred could be precisely what the club needs. It has worked for Fernandinho.

Both Fred and Fernandinho make football look simple. Plays are broken up with timely touches and not risky challenges, and attacks are sprung and goal opportunities are created courtesy of stellar passing ranges and the impetus to move the ball rapidly.

Following the 2-1 victory over City the first week of December, Fred was asked about the Manchester City links. "A friend gave me the news saying that City and Guardiola were interested in me," the Belo Horizonte-born midfielder told reporters. "At the exit of the locker room, he (Guardiola) stopped me and said we had a good game. But he did not ask me to play with him."

With City looking to cement a move for Fred before the 2018 World Cup kicks off, it's only a matter of time before Guardiola does.