4 time UCL winner and Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro has been linked with a sensational move to Manchester United for £60m. According to reports the Reds have offered to double the 30 year old Brazilian’s salary if he were to join. This comes on the back of a disappointing transfer window and a disastrous start to the season for Man Utd. It seems that this deal is likely to go through in the next few days. Casemiro will be leaving guaranteed success in Spain for the chaos and uncertainty of Manchester United.
After pursuing Barcelona’s Frenkie De Jong for over three months, it seems the club has finally woken up to something that was obvious from day 1 – De Jong doesn’t want to leave Barcelona. After attempting to sign Juventus’s Adrien Rabiot (*sigh*), the club has gone back to its basic strategy of throwing money at the best players and hoping they sign for the club. In this case it seems to have worked.
Will Casemiro improve the midfield?
To be honest any midfielder would probably improve the midfield as things stand. In both the losses this season, man utd’s midfield was brutally exposed and it seems obvious that manager Erik Ten Hag has seen enough. Casemiro is arguably the greatest defensive midfielder at the moment. He excels at breaking up play and covering space and is quite comfortable on the ball. However, his ball progression is not that great (still better than the current midfield) but he has other players to do that.
Currently, utd’s biggest problem is there is no reliable presence at the base of their midfield to link the defense with the forward line and to break up opposition counters. This usually leaves their defense exposed. Casemiro will help screen the defense, thus solving one of utd’s problems. This would allow players like Bruno Fernandez and Cristiano Ronaldo to focus on attacking.
Should Manchester United buy Casemiro?
While the benefits of having a ball winning midfielder are plenty, Ten Hag also requires his midfielders to contribute to the build up and drive forward with the ball at times. While Casemiro is not the best at these attributes, he is also not as bad as he is made out to be. One can’t play 9 years for Real Madrid without being comfortable in possession.
Ten Hag has a ready made solution to make Casemiro fit into his system. While playing for Brazil he often lines up with another Man Utd player Fred as his midfield partner. Fred is one of those players who excels further up the pitch rather than at the base of midfield where he has usually been deployed for man utd. We can expect the same partnership to resume at man utd. Another option would be to pair him with Christian Eriksen who is statistically one of the best ball playing midfielders.
Another player who will benefit from Casemiro would be captain Harry Maguire. Maguire has often taken the fall for the defensive frailties of Man Utd and with Casemiro screening the defense, Maguire can focus on his strengths rather than try to play 2 roles at once.
For Casemiro, it seems it is the right time to move on. With Madrid signing the much younger Camavinga and Tchouameni, his position as the first choice defensive midfielder is no longer guaranteed. Most top clubs in Europe already have world class players in that position. He would be a guaranteed starter at utd at least for the next two years and he could easily be the player that leads man utd back to the top. That might hold some appeal for him and it could be the reason why he is willing to play in the Europa League. Finally, he gets paid a lot of money….*sigh*.
Finally for Manchester United and Erik Ten Hag, it seems to be a panic buy rather than part of some grand transfer strategy…*sigh*. Signing Casemiro would hypothetically allow them to hold off on signing another midfielder for the time being and focus on other priority positions like right back, goalkeeper, striker, and possibly another versatile forward. The way man utd is run, this sounds like a pipe dream.
