Guard dog with a difference: Casemiro silences doubters to lift Old Trafford

There was a funny moment shortly after Casemiro had completed his transfer to Manchester United from Real Madrid last August when he was asked about one of the many new things he would have to get used to – namely no Champions League football. Was it something that bothered him? “Well, I have five,” he said, that familiar cherubic smile spreading across his features.

The question could have been put more bluntly. What on earth was Casemiro, who had just won his fifth medal in Europe’s elite competition, who had almost turned it into his personal playground, doing coming to United, the fallen giants?

Yet it cut both ways. Why were United, at the start of a rebuild under Erik ten Hag, signing a 30-year-old for £60m rising to £70m and putting him on a lucrative four-year contract with the option of a fifth? Surely Madrid do not sell players that they count on? Moreover, everybody knew which midfielder Ten Hag had wanted and it was Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, who is more playmaker than destroyer.

When it became clear that United would not get De Jong, and the truth was that he could not have been clearer from the outset about not wanting to move, the club sounded out Adrien Rabiot at Juventus. Then, bang, they got Casemiro.

“I’m surprised, I have to be honest,” Peter Schmeichel, the Old Trafford goalkeeping great, said at the time. “Because Casemiro hasn’t been mentioned at all through the window. Also, if you are No 6 for Manchester United, you are supposed to drive and take part in the game.

“Ten Hag says he wants to be in possession and control the game, and he wants to put pressure on the ball. That’s a big difference from La Liga. And even playing in the Champions League. I’m surprised that this player is now mentioned … at that amount of money, at those wages, at that age, when we don’t know if he can do the job.”

Casemiro with the Champions League trophy last May – the fifth he won with Real Madrid. Photograph: Javier Soriano/AFP/Getty Images

Schmeichel was only saying what many people thought, what many United fans feared. They have seen their club overpay too often for players who have not worked out. The deal had red flags everywhere. Casemiro has taken each one, surgically dissected it and thrown the pieces into the wind.

The Brazilian’s impact – on and off the field – has been nothing short of sensational. There are some fans who have likened it to that of Eric Cantona in 1992 and, if that is big talk, well, this is a club where that sort of thing is a part of it.

Casemiro turned 31 on Thursday and he celebrated at 10pm by pumping his fists and beating his chest in front of the Old Trafford crowd, having helped to knock Barcelona out of the Europa League – always a high-energy feeling and especially so for a player who spent nine and a half seasons on the other side of Spain’s classic football divide. How the support responded; a moment of communion. Next up is the Carabao Cup final against Newcastle on Sunday when Casemiro’s duel with his fellow Brazil international Bruno Guimarães stands to be pivotal.

Casemiro’s teammates highlight the qualities for which he is best known. According to Luke Shaw, the United players joke that he gives the ball away only so he can win it back. Antony calls him “our guard dog in the middle” and Bruno Fernandes noted after the Barcelona win, that “obviously when he has to tackle, he goes strong”.

Casemiro tackles Fulham’s Tom Cairney in November. Photograph: Javier García/Rex/Shutterstock

Casemiro has averaged four tackles per 90 minutes in the Premier League, putting him second on Opta’s list for the category, and his ball recoveries go up to 5.6 when interceptions are factored in; he is third in the division by this metric.

United fans knew that Casemiro would bring the aggression along with his positional sense and reading of the game, to see the danger before it unfolds. The pleasant surprise has been what he has done in possession. There was the feeling in Madrid that he was a pure No 6 because of who he played with – Luka Modic and Toni Kroos. He sacrificed himself in pursuit of a platform for them. But Casemiro is much more than a mere enabler.

At United, the quality and incision of his passing has been pronounced; his ability to drive moves – often quick transitions after he has won possession. Opta has a statistic called shot-ending sequences started; in other words, ball recoveries that lead to chances, and Casemiro is second in the league on this. As an aside and an insight into Ten Hag’s style, United have two others in the top five – Fred (first), Fernandes (fifth). When Casemiro’s four goals and five assists in all competitions are considered, his claim to being the complete midfielder is strong.

What have so impressed the staff at United are Casemiro’s hunger and professionalism. Is he sated by his five Champions Leagues plus 13 other honours at Real, including three La Liga titles? Absolutely not. Casemiro wanted to take on a new challenge, feeling that his cycle at the Bernabéu was over, and it says plenty that he went for a total change in a new country with a different language and football culture.

At Real, Casemiro was known for taking his dedication to the next level. Hence the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, electric recovery boots, extreme abstinence and morning sessions before training, not to mention the constant videos and analysis.

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Casemiro has always been obsessed with the marginal gains, with wringing every last drop from his talent, partly because he had so little during his childhood in São José dos Campos – a 90 minute drive to the north-east of São Paulo. “I was fortunate to find a way thanks to football,” he told the Guardian in August 2020. “Knowing how hard it was is why I do everything from the heart, 200%.”

Casemiro scores for Manchester United against Reading in the FA Cup. He has four goals and five assists. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

At United, Casemiro has continued to see the devil in the detail, his match preparation heavy on studying the opposing players, their strengths and weaknesses, their statistics. He also finds out the referee’s name and a bit about him so that he can make a connection, one which may work for him and the team.

“Casemiro is such an important player, he’s been in big places and how you see him on the pitch is the way he is off it – just a really calm guy,” Fernandes says. “He doesn’t speak English really well yet but in the way of football, the way he can communicate with his teammates, he speaks really well.

“Does he ever lose it? He has his moments, although he can’t speak to some players because he can’t really speak in English. As a leader, he knows when he has to be a little bit tough and when he has to be more composed.”

Like many players, Casemiro is superstitious. When he was at São Paulo, the club misspelled his name on the back of his match shirt – it should be Casimiro – but he played well and told them not to change it. He has stuck with the spelling since. But it is a story from his youth career at the Brazilian club that resonates in terms of United.

Casemiro was a 15-year-old hopeful when he played for São Paulo in the Nike Cup, hosted by United. “When I played in that, I would have liked to have come here,” he told the club website. “Now that I’m here again, I’m the happiest man alive.”

It has taken a while and it took a little longer still when Ten Hag eased him into the lineup, waiting six weeks before giving him his first league start. That was at Everton on 9 October in the 2-1 win and Casemiro has since been on the losing team only once. His complete United record reads: W25 D4 L3.

Casemiro wants more and it is another line from his unveiling interview that has come to linger. “I have a lot of ambition to win,” he said. “If next year we don’t win the Premier League or the Champions League, I will be sad and angry.”

Casemiro’s eyes never waver from the prize.