Casemiro to Manchester United: Stats expert names 5 ways he'll improve them

Casemiro is waiting in the wings for his official Manchester United debut.

The Brazilian midfield destroyer completed a £70 million move to Old Trafford this week, being presented to fans at the stadium ahead of Monday’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool.

Unfortunately, the transfer hadn’t gone through in time for Casemiro to debut in the mammoth clash. That puts all United fans’ eyes on their early kick-off visit to Southampton on Saturday, where he is expected to feature.

Much has been made over United’s decision to splash the cash on the 30-year-old as he joins from Real Madrid, and whether or not it was a shrewd piece of business.

United’s interest and pursuit of Barcelona‘s Frenkie de Jong was the summer’s worst kept secret, but they failed to get the deal over the line with issues over De Jong’s deferred wages proving too problematic.

As such, focus switched to Casemiro – after another failed pursuit in the form of Adrien Rabiot – and the deal was completed to get the five-time Champions League winner to the club.

One thing is for sure and that is that Casemiro is an undisputed improvement on United’s current defensive midfield options – because they don’t have any and have been using square pegs in round holes for years.

Scott McTominay and Fred have steadied the ship to an extent in recent years, coming up with physical performances in big games, but it wasn’t a sustainable approach. It’s cost United a pretty penny, but signing Casemiro means the boxes are finally ticked.

They’ve brought in an experienced player, a serial winner, and perhaps the best out-and-out defensive midfielder in the world. It’s about time.

Following his signing, football stats expert ‘Statman Dave’ has produced a video for YouTube, breaking down