Upon the culmination of the 2023/2024 campaign, all those involved with Manchester United were of the expectation that Casemiro had just played his final season in red.
Numerous reports suggested that the Brazilian’s considerable drop-off in form convinced club chiefs that they simply had to sell him when the window opened.
That is, of course, only possible if there are suitors there waiting to fork out the money. Despite frequent links to the Saudi Pro League’s big spenders, no clubs came in for Casemiro, whom United themselves shelled out £70 million for, at any stage in the window.
Alas, Erik ten Hag then began the new term with the 32-year-old at his disposal, and fans could only hope that he had undergone something of a renaissance in form akin to his first year at Old Trafford.
Casemiro looks to have settled after a turbulent start to the season
Those hopes diminished rapidly after Casemiro endured a horror first half at home to Liverpool on September 1. He had started – and played the full 90 minutes – of each of the opening two Premier League fixtures, but was hooked at the interval against the Scousers for being at fault for Luis Diaz’s quickfire brace.
He proceeded to be dropped for the subsequent matches, featuring for only three minutes in the win over Southampton while being an unused substitute at Selhurst Park.
An upturn in his performances saw his starting 11 places eventually restored, fending off stiff competition from the likes of Christian Eriksen and Manuel Ugarte in the middle of the park.
Casemiro got off the mark for 2024/2025 in last weekend’s defeat to West Ham United – the match that would ultimately cost Ten Hag his job. The veteran scored an equaliser in hopes of cancelling out Crysencio Summerville’s goal with nine minutes of regular time on the clock before the Reds fell to an – albeit controversial – loss through Jarrod Bowen’s spot-kick conversion deep into injury time.
According to statistics shared by StatmanDave, the maligned midfielder has now been involved in 39 attacking sequences in the league thus far. The feat is only bettered by his counterpart and skipper Bruno Fernandes, leading the analyst to hail Casemiro for ‘thriving’ as of late.
