Manchester United’s midfield is the current weakest position under Ruben Amorim, with no additions signed in the summer to bolster the ranks.
It wasn’t through a lack of effort that Manchester United ended the summer midfielder-less, with Ineos attempting to sign Carlos Baleba from Brighton.
Ultimately, a deal proved too expensive, with Brighton wanting £100m. After missing out, United are plotting big midfield moves in 2026, but for now, Ruben Amorim has to work with the quartet that don’t quite fit the demands.
Bruno Fernandes is the one guaranteed starter in the pairing, with the other three effectively battling each other to partner him.
Bruno Fernandes explains the role of central midfielders under Ruben Amorim
No matter which way it is spun or which combination used, United’s midfield has issues.
Speaking ahead of United’s trip to face Liverpool this weekend, Fernandes has spoken about the situation to Sky Sports, admitting that Casemiro has one quality Paul Pogba had.
“I can serve the players upfront, probably not with the assist but with the ball through the lines for them to create something. It’s very important to have someone behind who is very capable of doing that.
“When I was doing so well as a no.10 in the past, I had Matic and Paul [Pogba], that was great at doing that. I grew a lot because the ball was coming from there.
“Now, Casemiro is very good at doing that with one touch, Manu [Ugarte], we know he is more of a player who’s going to hunt the ball and recover. Kobbie [Mainoo] is a player who we know can break the lines by driving with the ball with the power he has and the ability in tight spaces to get away from players.
“So we have different players there who can help the team and then it’s on the manager to choose the one he thinks will be better for each game.”
Casemiro is the current best choice to partner Bruno Fernandes
This season so far, Amorim has alternated between Casemiro and Ugarte to partner Fernandes; however, ideally, in the near future, it will be Mainoo starting.
This is known to be the case as Amorim has been working with Mainoo on his defensive qualities in training, clearly grooming the talented 20-year-old to partner Fernandes.
Additionally, Mainoo has been putting plenty of work into his physicality, which should see him add muscle, while he also remains lean enough to have that mobility, which Fernandes rates so highly.
While Mainoo is the future and needs more minutes, for the time being, Casemiro is the clear first choice, with his tackling and surprisingly good direct passing being key for United under Amorim.
Mainoo’s time will come, but Casemiro is the guy right now, for the reason Fernandes mentioned, which gets United’s attack going.
This does leave Ugarte as the odd man out.
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