I'd try putting it on a proper watering and 3-1-2 fertilizing schedule for a year, make sure it's pest-free, and give it another 18 months. Can you take a pic of the tree? The leaves might tell us something.

Plus it's not unusually for a young tree planted in the ground to forgo fruit and blossoms for at least a year or two as it concentrates on growing and enlarging it's root system.

But after several years it should start some blossoms. Has it put on more leaves and branches in that time? If it has that's a good sign, if not, it's a problem.

Like serge said, pics would help a lot, and the care it gets, water, fertilizer, etc. And if your friend could also tell you exactly how much full sun it gets each day, in hours.