How Casemiro has lifted a 10-year curse at Manchester United

When a star Manchester United player has been signed, probably since 2013, there has been an all too familiar process that has occurred. Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao, Memphis Depay to name a few, all names that arrived with palpable hype and fanfare.

Then something strange seems to occur once they pull on the red shirt, a Space Jam-esque voodoo where all the pro-NBA players seemed to lose their powers. They become a shell of themselves, nothing close to the brilliant player Manchester United thought they were buying.

Of course this probably comes down to the fact that Manchester United are still a club that, until this season when they gave to Erik ten Hag the keys to the castle, has operated strangely, without much of a plan, simply buying shiny new players because they looked good.

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“Careers go to die at Man Utd” is what the painfully true saying has been in recent years, and there have been way too many players who have had a remarkable dip after arriving at Old Trafford. Rarely then, has a player showcased he’s one of the world’s best before and after his signing as Casemiro has after his £60 million move from Real Madrid – he is playing exactly like we all have seen him at his astounding best in a Real Madrid team that has dominated the Champions League in recent years.

When he was first signed, the pressure on the Glazers was increasing to an enormous amount, and fan protests justifiably grew increasingly irate. The Glazers then finally decided to solve the defensive midfield issue by chucking money at it, in turn signing one of the best in the business.

Why this wasn’t addressed previously is anyone’s guess. It seems as though Manchester United only take action when problems are staring them square in the face, with the boat about to hit the iceberg.

Casemiro was a panic buy, but he may be the greatest panic buy in Manchester United’s history. It’s refreshing that a player at the peak of his powers has come to Man Utd to still be at the top of his game. You can see it in his performances, he’s two or even three steps ahead – he senses danger before it even appears.

United didn’t buy a player who had good potential and at some point later they can hope to hone to become world-class; they simply bought the best in class. There’s a sense of calmness with Casemiro in the team, he’s a player who knows when to take the sting out of the game, he controls the middle of the park at his own pace.

Having him in midfield means you have a midfield destroyer who at times can stop opposition attacks almost by himself at a Rolls-Royce pace.

In his first full Premier League fixture, against Everton, there was the odd loose pass and loose touch here and there, but he was adapting to the Premier League, and now he looks as if he’s found his groove with aplomb. His confidence has reached such a high level that there was a period in the second half against Bournemouth where he was firing play-making passes from deep just for the fun of it.

The area in which there was slight question mark before he arrived was his distribution and whether he would adapt to what Ten Hag wanted, but fast forward a couple of months and he’s surprisingly thriving in that department.

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With every game, his ability to begin the move as well as break it up is growing ever more clear. He’s currently ranked third with the most progressive passes only behind Luke Shaw and Bruno Fernandes. Not since Roy Keane has there been a ‘complete’ midfielder for United in the sense that he can break attacks up, distribute well and command the respect of his team-mates.

It felt as though previously United were banking on Scott McTominay or Fred having one of their better games and going from there, with both probably being asked to do a role that neither player was suited for. Not only that, but neither of them – and this goes for quite a lot of the United team – had any real ‘guile’; a bit of street-wise craftiness that commands the ‘grey area’ in football.

There were a few hilarious sequences against Wolves where Casemiro would commit a necessary foul to stop their momentum, but do it in such a manner that was subtle enough to not warrant a yellow card, or make it seem not overtly dangerous.

With Casemiro in central midfield, United have a player who finally warrants the hefty price tag and hype around him, and is more than living up to it.