Casemiro made U-turn over Man Utd move

Ben Jacobs

• Updated: 23 Aug 2022 08:48 CDT
• 7 min read

Casemiro made a U-turn on his decision to leave Real Madrid for Manchester United, after initiating deciding to stay put at Los Blancos before altering his mind and agreeing to join the Red Devils, CBS reporter Ben Jacobs writes for FootballTransfers.

Amidst all of their disasters on the football field and the Cristiano Ronaldo saga, Man Utd have realised they can move to strengthen the squad and support Erik ten Hag late in the window. Seemingly, they've made additional funds available in the last two weeks or so of the window to do that, and there was an ability to move quite opportunistically for Casemiro, who earlier in the window, I think it was made clear, was not particularly open to leaving Real Madrid.

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I think that Carlo Ancelotti has pretty consistently made it clear that he would’ve liked to have kept the player, but Man Utd pushed and they moved quite fast on this deal which has not been typical of them this window. They've tended to have an approach of set targets and not wanted to deviate from those, and each of them has become a kind of saga, particularly obviously Frenkie de Jong and Antony, who they still might end up getting.

But, with Casemiro I think it was just clear that the player U-turned on his own desire to stay at Real Madrid and Real have got quite a lot of depth in that area. They've signed Aurelien Tchouameni and Casemiro wanted a fresh challenge, and the financials help as well because Man Utd were prepared to pay very big wages so there was a lucrative offer.

It's a chance to play in the Premier League and I think from Man Utd's thinking, they're not saying ‘okay we no longer want the De Jong style player’, it's more a case with Casemiro that a quality defensive midfielder is exactly what they have been screaming out for. His ball winning, his composure, his control, all the unsung work that he does, that ability to battle and win second balls, and so on will allow Manchester United to free up space for other players to play with speed and energy, which is exactly what Erik ten Hag is trying to introduce.

Why did Casemiro change his mind to leave Real Madrid?

I think Man Utd is a big club to Casemiro and it’s a big club to anybody considering the move. The problem is with the lack of stability, the merry-go-round of managers, the ownership group and the Ronaldo saga, some of which can be solved in the short term and others are more foundational problems. But, Man Utd are still historically a big club and what they prove in every window is whether they’re in Europe or not, in the Champions League or not, whether they lose their opening games or not, whether they’ve sacked their manager or not, they still have an element of pull.

I think in Casemiro's parting, which was tearful, it was made clear by Florentino Perez that Man Utd still have a big pull and potentially so does Erik ten Hag with a certain kind of player. But, with Casemiro the situation was that after Real Madrid won the Champions League, some of the more senior players had a meeting with Carlo Ancelotti. One or two were obviously offered new deals and it was made clear, for example, to Luka Modric that he was a player that Real Madrid were definitely going to keep.

And the senior players that were still a part of Ancelotti squad earlier in the window were given a defined role and they were either told it's business as usual or you're going to play less or they want them to play in certain games but be mentors to other players at the same time.

So there's a balance almost between do you want that type of role, which won't necessarily be the case for Modric, but for Casemiro my understanding is he was told ‘you are going to be a squad player. You are still going to play in big games, but we want you to work hard and inspire a player like Tchouameni. We want you to be a positive influence when you're not selected and your time at this football club can continue, but your role must change slightly.’

He was content with that, and at the same time, for his age, there was a big price tag. So, when those two things were combined earlier in the window, there weren’t many suitors thinking that Casemiro was available and when they spoke to his people, there was no appetite to desperately move.

I think what changed was effectively pre season, some of the summer business for Real Madrid, even though they haven't been as busy as others, and Casemiro thinking even if I surrender Champions League football, I can have one last challenge.

When people hear that they'll think, well, of course he's only moved for the money, and that is a factor; there's no denying that Man Utd have given him a financial offer that he simply couldn't refuse. But, it's not only that. It’s the fact that to a certain kind of player they relish the opportunity to be integral, to be an automatic starter and to be a name that helps a club go from a relative low back to a high. He sees himself at the football club in the long run as far as the final push or peak of his career is concerned, and he's very motivated by that.

And he obviously knows Fred and they had a conversation as well, so the club didn't need to sell themselves as much as perhaps some people assume, because he's quite ambitious and it’s one thing to say ‘why don't you just stay at Real Madrid’, but he's done everything there. So having won the Champions League and La Liga it's a good time to leave for a fresh challenge.

I think that even though Man Utd's plight to some might seem negative when pitching to players, which is absolutely true when you're up against a rival that can offer more, such as Champions League football, but there was no rival in this deal per say.

So it was all about can you persuade the player? Yes, on big money, and to move to the Premier League, which intrigues him, to play with a player in midfield he knows really well like Fred, and to wrestle Man Utd back up to, at worst, Champions League football.

And I think all of that combined prompted a bit of a U-turn. So when Man Utd came calling he went to Real Madrid and said: ‘I know I said at the beginning of the season when there was no tangible offer for me that I was quite intent on staying, but now actually I quite like this overall package of the money, the Premier League, my friend Fred, Manchester United as they are now and that ability to be a big-money star signing that can bring that quality and experience to bring them back to the Champions League.’

If Manchester United were just in the Champions League, had a deeper squad, and were more progressed and moving in the right direction to the point where a move could have been deemed to be like-for-like (if hypothetically Man Utd had a big squad and things were going well like they were under Alex Ferguson) then Casemiro might have turned around and said ‘I might be replaced in a year or I still might only be a squad player.’

So it's actually Man Utd's fall that benefits them and is, perversely, of appeal because he knows that walking into that dressing room, he's just an upgrade on anything they've got in that area. That means that he's going to be far more integral than he would have been this season at Real Madrid and that was part of his thinking, and that was one reason why decided to make the move.

It was a very quick decision. He spoke to Erik ten Hag, he spoke to Carlo Ancelotti, and it was made clear to him that both clubs wanted him - It wasn't a case of Real Madrid just giving their blessing - but for the right price, they were always going to sanction that move.

After a reasonably quick decision he is now a Man Utd player after saying his goodbyes at Real Madrid.