"If he isn't the best, he's up there."
It's not a stretch to argue that Sergio Busquets is the greatest holding midfielder of the last 15 years. His honours list with Barcelona includes eight Spanish league crowns, seven Copa del Reys and three Champions Leagues. With Spain, El Pulpo won the European Championship and the World Cup across a 14-year international career.
Then there are the countless plaudits he received from his more storied peers. "Without Busquets, Barcelona and Spain could never have achieved what we have achieved," said Xavi, now his manager at Barcelona. When Sergio Ramos was at Real Madrid, he said of his own team: "There are a number of players I like, but the one we perhaps need is Busquets.” The late Johan Cruyff described Busquets as a "gift for any coach".
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The quote at the top of this article isn't about Busquets, though — they are Busquets' own words, and he was talking about Manchester United's Casemiro.
"In this position we do get overlooked because, ultimately, people focus on goals, shots, assists," Busquets said of the recognition, or lack thereof, that defensive midfielders often receive. "We have a less obvious role but one that's much more important, which is being in the middle of the team, controlling everything. I admire him."
Whether Casemiro is the best holder in the world or he is just "up there" is a moot point as far as United are concerned. He has had the kind of transformative effect on this team that only Bruno Fernandes can claim to have had of the signings United have made since Sir Alex Ferguson bade farewell a decade ago.
Casemiro is not as silky as Busquets, whose pirouettes and shoulder feints feature regularly in Instagram and Tik-Tok feeds, but he is fundamentally a brilliant footballer, and that is why United are a worse team when he is not a part of it.
Frustratingly for Erik ten Hag, Casemiro has only lined up in three Premier League games in the last 11 weeks. He was sent off in two of them and hooked with United trailing 5-0 at Anfield in the other.
The current suspension Casemiro is serving, for a studs-up challenge on Southampton's Carlos Alcaraz, is far less dubious than the previous one, when video assistant referee Tony Harrington neglected to show Andre Marriner an angle that would likely have cleared Casemiro of violent conduct against Will Hughes.
Regardless of how we got here, though, Casemiro's lack of availability is a major reason behind United's drop-off in league form. United were eight points adrift of leaders Arsenal and level with Manchester City when Casemiro served his first suspension of the season, for a totting-up of yellow cards, at the Emirates in January. They are now 22 behind Arsenal and 14 behind City.
In his absence, United have no genuine anchoring midfielders. Scott McTominay, Fred and Marcel Sabitzer all possess varying qualities of their own but alone are not the full package, Bruno Fernandes is clearly attack-minded, and Christian Eriksen and Donny van de Beek, who should have the capacity to be deep-lying foils alongside a more combative player, are long-term absentees. Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof have been touted as midfield options but that is a sign of how threadbare United are in that position — neither man has ever consistently featured there in their senior careers.
United face duels with Brentford and Everton before they can welcome Casemiro back into the fold and hopefully get their hunt for a top-four finish back on track.
Champions League qualification won't rank too high up on Casemiro's list of career achievements but it could lay the foundations for greater things to come.
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