At the start of the season, Man United’s midfield is a major issue. They need a runner to help cover Bruno Fernandes when he just naturally moves forward, and that’s exactly why they were interested in Brighton’s Carlos Baleba.
Casemiro was written off by most before the new season even started, and it wasn’t entirely unfair. The 33-year-old was, quite literally, well off the pace as United endured their worst ever Premier League campaign in 2024-25.
In recent weeks, however, the defensive midfielder is undergoing somewhat of a renaissance and is now one of Ruben Amorim’s most important players.
Working his way back into Amorim’s good books
The Portuguese manager recently admitted that Casemiro was his last-choice midfielder for large parts of last season, but now, he’s one of the first names on the team sheet, alongside the likes of Bryan Mebumo, midfield parter Fernandes, and Matthijs de Ligt.
United’s defensive record clearly demonstrates Casemiro’s impact: in his absence, they concede a goal roughly every 31 and a half minutes, but with him in the side, that rate improves dramatically to just one goal allowed every 110.6 minutes.
Interestingly enough, they score more too. United have 12 Premier League goals in the 553 minutes Casemiro is on the pitch, compared to the five in their 347 without him. Essentially, Amorim’s side are nearly three time more likely to score with him than they are without him.
Of course, his age means he will probably struggle to play every minute for United. He missed their 3-0 defeat to Man City and the 3-1 loss to Brentford, both of which came after the first international break of the season, in which Casemiro made the trip to Brazil.
United didn’t dare play the game against Liverpool without him, despite the fact he played 180 minutes in Brazil’s games against Japan and South Korea, even if he was substituted and replaced by Manuel Ugarte due to injury in the 58th minute.
It was perhaps the 2-2 draw against Tottenham that laid bare. Casemiro was brought off with 20 minutes to go, with United ahead thanks to Bryan Mbeumo’s first-half header. Spurs then went on to score twice after the Brazilian had left the pitch.
How has Casemiro’s Man United role changed?
Since he joined, the club have appeared to acknowledge that Casemiro won’t be covering too much ground with his numbers pretty consistent across his three-and-a-half(ish) years at the club.
This season, he has covered around 10.8km per 90 minutes and made 5.9 sprints per match. Casemiro had previously been tasked with helping to cover wide areas, while this season he’s managed to stay narrower, which is a symptom of United having more control over games.
He’s also not quite as deep as he used to be. In his ten Premier League games so far, he’s already won the ball in the final third four times, a significant improvement on the ten in 24 he managed last time around.
Casemiro’s log passing is arguably the most important aspect of his game so far this season. He is fantastic at turning defence into attack at a moment’s notice, with only five midfielders having more successful long passes per 90.
With three goals in his ten games, Casemiro has added that to his game, although two have them have come from corners and the other an effort from just over 20 yards out in the 4-2 win over Brighton, so don’t expect him to be getting Frank Lampard numbers.
Verdict
With his contract set to expire at the end of the season, whether he stays or not, United will still be looking to sign a new midfielder either in January or the summer. Funnily enough, Casemiro bossed target Elliot Anderson in the draw with Nottingham Forest.
For now, Casemiro will certainly do more of a job for Amorim, but realistically, United need to look to the future and thank him for his service in the not so distant future.