How the almost irreplaceable Casemiro exposes Man United’s new vulnerability

The Stretford End songbook was focused on two defensive midfielders. The song celebrating Michael Carrick was, like the man himself, brought back from the past. Yet after the final whistle, after an injury-time winner, the name sung longest and loudest was that of Casemiro.

He has started his long goodbye at Old Trafford. He has been talisman and transformative presence, laughing stock and fading force. Now it seems the Brazilian will go as a cult hero, and a man who will leave a sizeable gap in the midfield.

Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Fulham offered two reasons why. There was already evidence this season of why United had become over-reliant on a player who turns 34 this month. And if part of it lies in the drop-off between him and Manuel Ugarte, and the club’s decision not to strengthen the midfield last summer is a contributory factor, his importance is such that United can seem a Casemiro injury away from seeing their stirring bid for Champions League football disappear.

Benjamin Sesko salvaged victory over Marco Silva’s side; it looked a formality when Casemiro, who rarely plays 90 minutes, went off. But Fulham pulled it back to 2-2. It was the third time this season that United have conceded twice after Casemiro’s second-half substitution, against Brighton, Tottenham and now Fulham; that is made worse by the reality he played at least 70 minutes in each of those games. He is less mobile than he was but they can lose control when he goes off: maybe it is the aura or the experience of a serial Champions League winner. Or maybe it is simply Ugarte’s shortcomings.

But United’s 2-0 lead had stemmed from Casemiro, too. He scored the first goal and, with a disguised pass, made the second. For a defensive midfielder, he is a remarkably effective attacking midfielder. And, while United’s summer quest for midfield reinforcements will focus on other characteristics, in that respect Casemiro is almost irreplaceable.

If he was signed to excel just outside his own 18-yard box, he has proved a potent penalty-box presence at the other end: a fine finisher who can seem to have a striker’s ability to sniff out an opening and a magnetism that the ball gravitates to him.

Casemiro’s goal was his 22nd in 148 games for United. By way of comparison, it is the number Marouane Fellaini, often used as a No 10, got in 29 more games. Among holding midfielders, Casemiro is only two behind Carrick: but the current head coach played 316 more matches for United. Darren Fletcher, the previous interim, also struck 24 times, but made 194 more appearances.

Casemiro averages a goal ever 6.72 matches for United. It is significantly better than Paul Ince (one every 9.68) and Roy Keane (9.41), though each began his time at Old Trafford as more of a box-to-box midfielder. And if it reflects the way Casemiro can score from set-pieces – as he did against Fulham, heading in Bruno Fernandes’ free kick – there is the sense that he can deliver crucial contributions.

The most significant of Casemiro’s 22 goals came in the 2023 Carabao Cup final, in a man-of-the-match performance against Newcastle. The first of them was a 94th-minute equaliser against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. He does not often finish games now: when he did in 2023, he delivered a late double against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

His last great European performance for United came in one of their most remarkable ever, the 5-4 win over Lyon. Casemiro won Bruno Fernandes’ 114th-minute penalty and assisted both Kobbie Mainoo’s 120th-minute equaliser and Harry Maguire’s 121st-minute winner.

It came in a third act to his United career that seems to ensure that he will get a fond farewell from fans. A £63m signing who will leave on a free transfer, after costing the club in excess of £300,000 a week in wages, following a four-season stint with, so far, only one decent year may represent poor business.

But Casemiro was a catalyst in his debut campaign, a player who gave United confidence and charisma. Then came an 18-month spell that bordered on the humiliating: when Erik ten Hag’s tactics seemed to leave a slower figure as a one-man midfield, exposed and embarrassed by opponents, when he was substituted at half-time against Liverpool after gifting them two goals, when he and Christian Eriksen were chosen as a double act against Newcastle’s faster, stronger midfield, when Jamie Carragher told him to “leave the football before the football leaves you”, when Ruben Amorim initially relegated him below Toby Collyer in the pecking order.

Yet the last year has been restorative; proof of Casemiro’s character and fighting spirit as he has restored himself to the status of an automatic choice. He is not the player he was at Real Madrid but, as the chants at Old Trafford show, he will leave quite a hole. The task is to find someone who can excel in midfield. The chances are that, whoever it is, they won’t be as much of a threat going forward as Casemiro.