Why Man Utd’s season hinges on Casemiro’s return with January transfers unlikely
January will be a very quiet transfer window for Manchester United, so Erik ten Hag is going to just have to knuckle down and work with what he has got – earn his keep.
That means there will be no much-needed fresh legs in midfield. Games against teams like Tottenham are, understandably given what he has been through, too much for Christian Eriksen in a midfield two, they pass him by before he trudges off around the 70-minute mark with nothing left in the tank.
Most of the other options, however, are no better. Despite his commendable goal return, Scott McTominay’s propensity to shy away from the ball ensures he is never likely to drag the game by the scruff of the neck.
Sofyan Amrabat meanwhile should only really be used as a last resort or for matches against other teams where pandemonium rules, like Chelsea.
The biggest damning indictment on the sorry state of United’s midfield is the dilemma that faces Ten Hag is who to blood alongside 18-year-old Kobbie Mainoo, who only made his senior league debut less than a year ago.
The only option of sufficient calibre to rescue United’s season is a player supporters thought could be the catalyst for change at Old Trafford last term, only to return a perfect microcosm for the club this time around.
Casemiro has looked a shadow of his former self since the beginning of the new campaign, a fading star living on his trophy-laden past – sound familiar? The talent and crucial knowhow is there, the question remains does he still have the desire, and the legs, to inspire United once more.
Whether he does or doesn’t will effectively decide whether United’s season can have a happy-ish ending or plunge further into the depths of despair.
After 20 years of trying, Casemiro finally filled Roy Keane’s illustrious boots in the heart of the United engine room last season, inspiring United to their first trophy since 2017, putting in the kind of full-bloodied, all-action displays the glittering CV promised.
Plenty of similarly garlanded stars have been chewed up and spat out by the fallen Premier League giant stuck in perpetual, dizzying death spiral, but Casemiro bucked the trend. He lived up to the billing, with bells on. But as with anything around Old Trafford, the positivity didn’t last.
Such has been the decline this term, incoming new investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe has singled out Casemiro’s purchase as the epitome of a failing transfer strategy.
On big wages, signed for an exorbitant fee for a then 30-year-old, had United possessed a scouting department fit for purpose, as a behemoth of the global game should, then they could have identified a younger, hungrier model – one able to propel the club forward in the long term.
The writing was on the wall from the very first game of the season. Faced by a Wolves midfield coming at him from all angles, Casemiro had no choice but to run back and run towards his own goal, like Indiana Jones being chased by a huge boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark – he had no other option but to retreat.
Even without the injury that has kept him out since early November, Casemiro needed a regroup, time to gather his thoughts and examine how to approach matches in an altogether different way, when the legs are starting to fail.
Then there is the issue of motivating a player who has won it all and still showered with riches from all angles. There is not likely to be many more winners’ medals for Casemiro to garner in Manchester, his task is to lay the foundations for revolution.
How successful Ten Hag is in convincing Casemiro to lead United towards a brighter future could well be his most important task yet. Last season’s Brazilian metronome must reappear, or the results could be catastrophic.
