Five-time UEFA Champions League winner Casemiro has thrown his weight behind emerging youngster Kobbie Mainoo, endorsing him to lead Manchester United into the future.
Casemiro has been at Old Trafford since the beginning of last season after choosing to call it quits on a nine-year stint with Real Madrid where he won five Champions League winners’ medals. In that time, he has struggled to adapt to the speed of the English game, using only experience to navigate the situations he has been thrown into.
He is one of the most experienced players on the squad and his leadership and winning expertise is key to motivating the emerging talents at the club.
One of those emerging talents is 18-year-old Mainoo, who made his debut for the Red Devils this season thanks to the squad being hit with injuries – especially to Casemiro himself – earlier in the season.
The young midfielder has been a key part of the club’s resurgence since then and has helped them get to a stage where they can fight for the European competition spots in the league. He is playing so well in fact, that there are reports that he could be making his England national team debut soon because the Ghana national team have contacted him to switch nationalities.
Casemiro was speaking to United’s official magazine Inside United about his time at the club and his teammates when Mainoo was brought up. In reply, the Brazilian said, “For those of us who work with him, it’s been no surprise to see him scoring and playing really well in games.”
“I think we have a complete player in Kobbie – aggressive, looks after the ball, a player who wants the ball. I would say that if Kobbie continues the way he’s going with this mentality, continues training hard and doing things right, Manchester United have a great player for the next 15 years.”
Manchester United, meanwhile, are looking ahead into the future. Casemiro looks to be on his way out of the club in the summer as the INEOS group look to offload his high wages from their books. Erik ten Hag has requested the signing of AS Monaco star Youssouf Fofana as his replacement.
United may need to ward off competition from Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, who are also admirers of the Frenchman, who is valued at €30 million by Monaco.
They also have their sights set on Teun Koopmeiners of Atalanta in the case of Fofana being out of reach.
