It looks like the signing of Ugarte is inching closer and closer for Manchester United. He looks ideally suited to both how EtH likes to play, and an ideal partner for Kobbie Mainoo.
That said there is one thing I’d like to point out. There have been several posts over the past week or so along the lines of, “without a midfield signing we are weaker than last season”, typical hyperbole of course and not something I actually agree with.
For starters, Kobbie Mainoo has gained great experience from last season and in playing for his country at the Euro’s this summer. His rapid development in the first team is likely to continue. With us seeing him play better this year, and even if he doesn’t step up on last season’s performances, having him for the whole season rather than half a season will improve us.
We then have Mason Mount, a player who had absolutely no impact last season due to injuries. He looks back fully fit and has been good for us during pre-season. Either as a squad player or a starter he improves us in the midfield this season. He’ll almost certainly be better than Amrabat who he will effectively be replacing.
We also have the young lad Collyer, who has shown himself to be ready to fight for a place in the match day squad during pre-season. He is someone the manager has high hopes for and he looks more suited and reliable than Hannibal did last season. So again this is an upgrade on last season’s midfield options.
We still have Bruno who is continuing to show his creative quality, and we still have the experience and quality of Erikson, even if he can only last 60 minutes or so (I do expect him to leave, but until he does we haven’t lost anything) .
Finally there is the elephant in the room, although given his new slimmed down physique I’m not sure calling him an elephant is fair.
While everyone expected Casemiro to be sold this summer it seems that interest in him was limited and he looks set to stay at least another season.
Let’s not get this twisted, last year he was woeful. He struggled for fitness, and looked a yard or two off the pace all season. He was diving into tackles because he just couldn’t keep up with the opposition. For all the world he looked like his legs had “gone”. The dreaded phrase thrown at veteran players to signal the end of their careers, time to be taken behind the shed and put out of their misery.
This was a stark contrast to his first season when he looked like one of the best CDM’s in the league if not all of Europe. Was his form last season the result of a shift in tactics that left him isolated and with too much space to cover, or did he spend too much time bulking up in the gym, gaining muscle mass but losing flexibility and mobility, or was it indeed due to his legs disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Well this season we have seen a much more trimmed down, leaner looking Casemiro during pre-season, and he has looked far better than last season, maybe even approaching something close to his first season form.
In both the community shield and the Fulham game he challenged for and won the most duels of any player on the pitch. He covered ground well, won the ball and actually distributed it well creating chances and progressing the ball.
He was arguably our man of the match in both games, certainly not a weak link that needs removing immediately.
Obviously this is just two games, and it remains to be seen if he can keep this form up all season. It might be that we can only get performances like this out of him once a week, or maybe he can keep this up over 50 games. Either way, this version of Casemiro is a massive improvement on the one from last season.
Maybe those in the media, as well as those of us on here (myself included) were a little premature in declaring his legs “gone”, and his career at the top over.
Because if I’m honest, if Casemiro keeps this form up then I’m not sure Ugarte automatically just takes his place if/ when he joins. There might actually be a real battle between the two South American midfield warriors for a starting place. Which would only benefit our team.
At 32 years old Casemiro obviously isn’t the long term answer, but if he gets back close to the form he showed in his first season with us then we definitely don’t have a weaker midfield that last season regardless of whether we sign a player like Ugarte or not.
Written by Shappy August 20 2024 10:50:09
