Manchester United summer signing Casemiro made his first start for the club in Thursday night’s match with Real Sociedad.
It ended with defeat, courtesy of a very dodgy penalty, and the critics are already queuing up to lay into him, despite the fact United should have ended with a clean sheet despite the refereeing error.
Craig Burley told ESPN: “I think he has also got an issue with his mobility at the moment and his fitness. He wasn’t particularly good in the Sociedad game.”
Former star Gary Neville has also questioned the strategy which led United to sign Casemiro in the first place, via The Overlap.
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Casemiro is too good to fail
The narrative is already there for Casemiro to fail. The Brazilian is 30, and the fears are that he has joined United for a payday, and that he will quickly be shown to be past his best.
This won’t be the case. Casemiro is simply too good to fail, and he has joined Manchester United for the right reasons.
Having achieved all he possibly could at Real Madrid, Casemiro needed a new challenge, and told the club website: “I feel like I’m 20 or 18 years of age, I’m raring to go, I’m excited to be amongst my teammates, playing in the stadium and I think that it’s just huge excitement and I’m absolutely delighted.”
He is a five-times Champions League winner, fresh off triumph this past June, and he is the key man in Brazil’s midfield ahead of the World Cup.
There’s a possibility it takes Casemiro a few weeks to hit top form. It may only happen after the World Cup.
Or, similar to Raphael Varane last season, there could be a settling-in season before he kicks on in his second year.
Spanish football expert Graham Hunter told United’s club website: “It takes any player time to adapt, whether they’re magical like Casemiro or not; but for aggression, mentality and character then United have definitely got the right guy.”
While South American football expert Tim Vickery added: “If you’re looking for someone to balance out the side, United couldn’t have done a great deal better.”
One of Casemiro’s strongest traits is his mentality. He won’t let himself fail at Manchester United. He is a smart player, with strong decision making, who reads the game well and gets into the right positions at the right moments.
His experience will be vital to United, he is a specialist in an area of the pitch where the team have been crying out for a footballer of his calibre.
There is plenty of reason to be positive about the big money summer signing, just shut out the noise and rent-a-quote pundits looking for an easy soundbite by writing him off.
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