By Zach Lowy
The opening line of Charles Dickens’ 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities could just as easily be used to address Manchester United’s 2024/25 season. On the domestic front, it has been a shambolic campaign for United, who are on track for their first finish outside the top eight since 1989/90, sitting 15th in the table, and who suffered early exits in the EFL Cup and FA Cup. On the European front, however, United are just two games away from winning the UEFA Europa League title and booking their ticket for the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League.
One player who has epitomised Manchester United’s confounding season is Casemiro.
After developing in São Paulo’s academy, Casemiro left Brazil for Spain in 2013 and joined Real Madrid, where he helped them return to dominance by winning five Champions League titles and three LaLiga titles. Playing in the anchor role alongside Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos, Casemiro asserted himself as one of the finest defensive midfielders of his era for Los Blancos, capable of stepping in with a strong tackle and winning the ball back in a dangerous area and breaking up a devastating counter-attack. But whilst his tenacious ball-winning style earned him plaudits as a fearless destroyer, he also proved adept in possession, skilled at starting attacks with his incisive passing and testing the goalkeeper with a potent shot from outside the box.
It’s why, after failing to complete a deal for Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong, Manchester United signed Casemiro in August 2022 for £60 million plus £10 million in add-ons. The Red Devils began their campaign with a 2-1 loss to Brighton and a 4-0 demolition at Brentford, after which Casemiro reportedly told his agent to relay this message to Manchester United: “Tell them I’ll fix it.” For a while, it seemed that he was doing just that. The veteran Brazilian emerged as a vital cog in midfield alongside Christian Eriksen, shielding the backline from danger whilst also recycling the ball into advanced areas with ease, and he opened the scoring as Manchester United beat Newcastle 2-0 in the EFL Cup Final to secure their first trophy in six years.
However, he started to show signs of his age in 2023/24 as then-United manager Erik ten Hag shifted towards a more expansive style that forced Casemiro to cover large swaths of the pitch as a single pivot and a makeshift centre back. Both his first touch as well as his legs seemed to desert him in the final months of a campaign that included a 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace, prompting Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher to declare: “I think Casemiro should know himself tonight as an experienced player that he should only have three games left at a top level and then say I’m gonna go to the MLS or Saudi. I always remember something when I retired, a saying I’ll always remember: ‘Leave the football before the football leaves you’. The football has left him at this top level. He needs to call it a day at this level of football and move.”
Despite rampant transfer speculation linking him to Saudi Arabia and clubs in the Turkish Süperlig, Casemiro buckled down and fought for his spot. Nevertheless, he continued to look off the pace, especially in a 3-0 defeat at Liverpool that saw him make two errors leading to goals. Casemiro dropped down the pecking order under new manager Rúben Amorim with youngster Toby Collyer and various other midfielders being preferred over him. And after being overrun in a 2-0 demolition vs. Newcastle, he failed to play a single minute in United’s next six fixtures. It seemed the writing was on the wall for his career at the top level.
Instead, Casemiro returned to the fold in February following a sweeping injury crisis, and it’s fair to say that he’s grabbed this opportunity with both hands. He’s gone from zero to hero and excelled in central midfield, reminding United why they decided to hand him a £350,000-a-week contract and make him their best-paid player. Whereas Casemiro had previously oscillated between different midfield partners and responsibilities at Old Trafford, he’s now finding the right balance in terms of his work on and off the ball. Alongside the industrious Manuel Ugarte and two wingbacks, Casemiro now has far less space to defend and consequently isn’t chasing shadows and throwing himself to the ground at a moment’s notice. Instead, he’s timing his tackles to perfection and cutting down on the risky, suspension-inducing fouls that once dominated his early days in Manchester. He’s set the standard for young players to follow and exemplified what it takes to reach the highest level – after all, you don’t win five Champions Leagues (two more than Manchester United have won in the entire history) without a little bit of dedication.
“Amorim has had to change from his ideals in order to get the best out of a lot of players in this team, but he has learned how to utilize Casemiro properly,” stated Welsh journalist Scott Saunders, the host of the Manchester United-themed Promised Land Podcast. “You could have asked anyone in the world to cover the amount of space that needed to be covered and defended…even prime N’Golo Kanté would’ve had difficulty with that. If you’re playing Casemiro in that midfield, you need to limit the space around him and fill it with other players so that he’s able to win more 1v1 battles. Whatever the driver has been behind Casemiro’s resurgence, you have to give him and Amorim massive credit for recognising there was an issue and deciding how they make the best of their situation.”
With less pressure on him to blitz forward and press the opposing build-up play, Casemiro has had far more energy to carry out his attacking and defensive tasks and hold his own against some of the best teams in world football. On March 9, he thrived against an Arsenal midfield featuring Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard and Thomas Partey, winning nine out of 11 ground duels and three out of five aerial duels, making a game-high four tackles and racking up five recoveries in a 1-1 draw. One month later, Casemiro delivered a Player of the Match performance in a 0-0 draw vs. Manchester City, registering seven tackles and three recoveries and winning 12 out of 13 ground duels. He’s carried over this stellar form to the Europa League, grabbing two assists in their topsy-turvy 5-4 comeback win vs. Lyon before opening the scoring in their 3-0 win at Athletic Club.
Even at 33 years of age, he’s still proving adept at reading the game one step ahead of the rest and intervening with a vital interception, as well as picking out an inch-perfect through ball and setting up his teammate with a golden opportunity.
No longer left on an island and doomed to cover oceans of space by himself, Casemiro has enjoyed a renaissance in recent months and demonstrated that there’s still plenty of fuel left in the tank. He may no longer be as robust or fast as he once was, but Casemiro remains capable of reigning supreme in the highest-stakes scenarios and making his presence felt. And barring a momentous second-leg collapse on Thursday, he’ll have the chance to win his sixth European trophy on May 21 in Bilbao.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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