Featured Image Credit: Alamy - Instagram/casemiro
Topics: Casemiro, Manchester United, Premier League, Real Madrid, Brentford
Jack Kenmare
Topics: Casemiro, Manchester United, Premier League, Real Madrid, Brentford
It will go down as one of the most humiliating defeats in Manchester United's recent history.
On August 13, 2022, just a week after a miserable 2-1 home defeat to Brighton, the newly-appointed Erik ten Hag watched on as goals from Josh Dasilva, Mathias Jensen, Ben Mee and Bryan Mbeumo put Brentford 4-0 after just 35 minutes.
Ten Hag tried his best to switch things up at half-time, with Scott McTominay, Raphael Varane and Tyrell Malacia coming on. But the game had all but gone. United sank to the bottom of the Premier League with 0 points from two games.
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It was a disastrous start to the season for the Reds, and many were convinced that potential transfer targets would turn down any approach from a team drained of self-belief and structure.
But a soon-to-be £60 million signing was convinced by the Old Trafford project.
Watching the game unfold from his home in the Spanish capital, then-Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro sent a message to his agent, saying: “Tell them I’ll fix this”.
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That's according to a report from The Telegraph, who go on to claim that shambolic performance at the Gtech Community Stadium only enhanced his desire to join United.
In fact, the Brazilian had become 'fixated' on the deal and soon, negotiations would accelerate when club officials from the Premier League side travelled to Madrid to complete a deal.
Over dinner, Madrid officials gave Casemiro a so-called 'final chance' to reconsider but he wanted to join United. The rest is, well, history.
The 30-year-old was presented as a Manchester United player ahead of August's Premier League clash against Liverpool – a game they went on to win 2-1 – and the Brazilian has gone on to become a key player under Ten Hag.
After arriving, he revealed his ambitions of lifting the Premier League title – a statement that may have sounded ambitious back in August. But things have certainly changed since his arrival.
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Giving an insight into what he would bring to the team, he said: “At Manchester United, first of all, what I want is to transmit the way I feel about the club, my respect.
“Everything I did here [at Real Madrid], I want to do there too. I want to show my fighting spirit, capacity to work hard, professional attitude. I want to work hard every day to show how serious I am about them.
"I want to win the league there, I know it is an exciting league."
He added: “I am going through one of the best moments of my career. I feel I’m really fit, mentally I feel great, and I want to continue to enjoy my day to day and hopefully I can do that there.
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"I feel like it’s a great moment to take this decision.”