When Manchester United confirmed the €70 million signing of Casemiro from Real Madrid, he was hailed as “one of the best midfielders in world football” by football director John Murtough. Manager Erik ten Hag hinted he was some kind of missing jigsaw piece — “the cement between the stones” — and, unveiled ahead of the 2-1 win over rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford on Aug. 22, the Brazil international was given a hero’s welcome.
But more than six weeks on, Casemiro has played just 82 minutes of Premier League football. He is yet to start a league game for his new club and when Ten Hag picked the team to face Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, the 30-year-old was left on the bench.
As Pep Guardiola’s team tore through United with frightening ease to race into a 4-0 lead by half-time, the television cameras panned to the substitutes’ bench to show Casemiro and former Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo wearing looks of bewilderment. There was some disbelief among United supporters, too, about how one of the most experienced defensive midfielders in the world could be allowed to watch such an important game — one that, in theory, would suit his strengths — from the sidelines.
Explaining his decision after the 6-3 defeat, Ten Hag said he wanted to keep faith with the team which had won four league games in a row following the disastrous start to the campaign against Brighton and Brentford, but the manner of the defeat implied he had got it wrong.
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“On the day we signed him, we started to win and it’s about the team,” said the Dutchman. “The team is doing really well, it’s not against Casemiro. It’s for, in this case, Scott McTominay, he performed great in the team and then we get into a run. But I’m sure it will be important for us in the long and short-term. He [Casemiro] will find himself in the team but it has to come in a natural way.”
Ten Hag is set to make changes following the humiliating defeat to City and Casemiro is likely to start against Omonia FC for the Europa League tie in Cyprus on Thursday. But questions remain about why a five-time Champions League winner is having to wait for opportunities in the Europa League and is not already a regular in the first-choice XI.
It has led former Man United defender Rio Ferdinand to suggest Casemiro might already be regretting his decision to swap Madrid for Manchester.
“I wonder the impact it’s having on someone like him,” Ferdinand told his Five YouTube channel. “Yes, he’s experienced and whatnot, but he must be sitting there thinking, ‘wow, I’m feeling a little bit disrespected here, given what I’ve done.’ I’d be surprised if he’s not feeling like that.”
Sources have told ESPN that Murtough and technical director Darren Fletcher were impressed with Casemiro’s desire to move, particularly set against De Jong’s reluctance to leave Barcelona, but while Ten Hag agreed to pursue Casemiro — United managers can veto any transfer they don’t agree with — the Brazilian is a very different player to De Jong, who wants to pick passes and carry the ball.
Moving between players with very different profiles has raised more questions about United’s transfer strategy and, more importantly, it suggests Ten Hag is still trying to work out what to do with his new midfielder.
“Every other club is really precise, you don’t see them pinging around like a pinball in the transfer market, from one to the other,” former United defender Gary Neville told Sky Sports. “It’s De Jong, to [PSG’s Adrien] Rabiot and then it ends up being Casemiro on a phenomenal contract that will cost the club £160m. When you’re desperate you pay over the odds, I suppose.”
