Manchester United have announced that they have agreed a deal with Real Madrid for the transfer of Brazilian defensive midfielder Casemiro. The fee is understood to be in the region of £60m + £10m in add-ons and while Erik ten Hag would have likely preferred to have him available for Monday's game against Liverpool, the deal was completed before the deadline on Friday.
United's have failed to address their problems in the centre of the park for nearly half a decade now, and while Casemiro at 30 could be considered a short-term fix, he is a massive upgrade on their current options. Barring injury, it could now be considered the end of 'McFred', much to the fanbase's delight.
Casemiro was part of the Real Madrid side who won the Champions League 'three-peat' under Zinedine Zidane alongside current United players Cristiano Ronaldo and Raphael Varane. United are obviously in a much worse position, but hopefully, the midfielder can help them get back to where they need to be.
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Technical ability is however only one side of the coin, mentality is also important. This current United side has been accused of being 'mentally weak' by fans and pundits alike; collapsing under the slightest amount of pressure.
Casemiro, however, is the antithesis of this weakness. In 2019 ahead of Real Madrid's fourth Champions League final in a row against Liverpool, a fixture they would unfortunately lose, the Brazilian midfield spoke to Spanish TV Show Universo Valdano about his approach to the game.
He spoke about how when Zidane first came to the club, he wasn't being picked. He said: “I remember that when Zizou joined the club I didn’t play for the first five games. I was wondering what was wrong with him because so much people told me nice things about him, so I went to his room.
"I told him that we were in January and I wanted to play relevant minutes and I remember his answer so well. He told me ‘Case, stay calm because once you start playing you won’t stop doing so’.”
Casemiro got his chance and went on to be a stalwart in Zidane's side, forming a formidable trio with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. The two midfielders in front of him brought a technical edge, but he brought the physicality.
He also said in his interview: “My best skill is the way I go after every ball. I don’t care if it’s the 2nd minute or if it’s the 90th, I always go after it as if it were the last ball."
Time will tell whether this is a smart allocation of funds in the long term, but in the short term, United have hopefully got a top-class combative midfielder who will protect the defence and allow the rest of the team to thrive going forward.
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