There is a parallel Premier League at the moment where Manchester United are playing with Frenkie de Jong as their holding midfielder rather than Casemiro, a scenario Erik ten Hag wanted when he took up his post in the summer.
The Dutchman identified De Jong as his priority target for his ability to connect the game from defence to midfield and attack, carrying the ball forward and getting United on the front foot.
But aside from his unwillingness to actually swap Barcelona for Manchester, there were also concerns about his ability to play as a defensive midfielder in the Premier League.
READ MORE: Ten Hag showed his tactical improvement at United during Chelsea draw
Ten Hag might have envisaged a United side as dominant as his Ajax team were in the Eredivisie, but that was never likely to be the case. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, the Premier League is tougher and every game can be a challenge, as the Dutchman has already discovered.
It would have been fascinating to see how a midfield trio of De Jong, Christian Erisken and Bruno Fernandes had got on, but it feels too possession-centric to really be a success in this division. United might just have struck lucky with De Jong's refusal to ditch his Nou Camp dream.
United officials insist Casemiro was under consideration all summer and the midfielder has said the same, but there's no doubt this deal accelerated once United had been pulled from pillar to post by Brighton and Brentford.
The 30-year-old took his time to settle in the Premier League and initially looked a little too slow, a little too cumbersome, to thrive. But class always rises to the top and after six successive starts for the club he looks like an inspired signing.
Committing £70million to a defensive midfielder whose best days were considered to possibly be behind him felt like a risk, especially on a five-year deal, but this team have been crying out for a defensive midfielder and they now have a world-class operator in that department.
But the Brazilian is far more than just an elite destroyer. He was the hero at Stamford Bridge for his late equaliser, but he helped to control Chelsea as they got on to the front foot in the second half and dictated the tempo in the first 45 minutes.
It's been a surprising feature of Casemiro's passing that he so often looks forward. His passes have been crisp and progressive and in the last two games United's midfield has become more attack-minded as a result of the trust Ten Hag and his teammates now have in him.
Fred excelled in a more advanced role against Tottenham and in United's dominant first half at Chelsea, it was Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes enjoying the freedom they were afforded.
Time and again Casemiro picked up possession in deep areas and fired crisp passes into the feet of Eriksen and Fernandes on the half-turn. That trio controlled the game and it was Casemiro who felt essential to it. He deserved that moment of euphoria in front of the away end in stoppage time.
We will never know how this team would have looked with De Jong. There may well be a reunion for Ten Hag with his former Ajax midfielder in the Europa League in 2023, given Barcelona's Champions League struggles, but three months after being desperate for De Jong, United wouldn't swap Casemiro now.
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