That is a brilliant question because for soooooooo long Casemiro was nothing like he is now. In fact, if you told someone who only started watching football since February that before that, Casemiro was one of the worst players in the team for over a year, they would ask you ‘what are you smoking and can I have some of that?’

On top of this, he wasn’t even being selected!

We know that there appeared to be a bit of a beef between him and previous manager Erik ten Hag but it was current boss Ruben Amorim who chose not to put the Brazilian in his teams despite him being fit and available.

Yeah, that’s how bad it had gotten.

Fast forward three months and he is the undroppable man. If anything, Casemiro is probably the first name on the team sheet.

Incredible turnaround by the midfielder with his manager putting the credit all down to him. Fair play. Fair play 👏.

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So why this upturn in form?

Tbh, we have to go back a bit to the point where he found himself back in the team.

Just after Valentine’s weekend, several players decided to get injured leaving us with the bare bones particularly in midfield. All of Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Mason Mount were all out injured. Eriksen was also somewhat out of favor and even youngster Toby Collyer was out.

This left Amorim with just skipper Bruno Fernandes and his cast-to-the-side Brazilian to play in the center of the park.

I won’t say the manager was forced to use him, but…

However he got back in the team though, it makes no matter because boy, has he been amazing.

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The form of Casemiro in these last few months has been akin to what we were seeing in his first season in which he himself said was the best he’s had in terms of a footballer, not accolades before anyone loses their shit.

The 33 year old who is coming towards the end of his career and due to his poor form, many wanted him gone, is now a pivotal player for United especially in these European games.

More than just his quality, the 5x Champions League winner has shown his experience. That for me is the thing about him at the moment. That experience is not something you have as a player. You get it over time and Casemiro has more than most.

You can see the difference it makes in a player and considering United have so many youngsters who are inexperienced and don’t really know how to handle the big pressure occasions like last night, someone who’s been there and done it seriously stands out.

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Looking at the Brazilian’s stats, all 3 of his assists this season came in that incredible win over Lyon. I don’t think any of our players could’ve done what he did in that 9-goal thriller. To have that composure in those instances to play that extra pass (mainly for Maguire’s goal) and also have those street smarts to make the most of a soft foul for the penalty is again, only things a player learns over time. No one else in the squad has this and in such games and situations, it is of utmost importance.

And 1 of his 4 goals came against Bilbao. His output in recent weeks has been immense added to the quality and experience. Speaking of which, that helped him win the man of the match for that 3-0 win. He was one of two players (Bruno being the other) who understood exactly how to play such a game.

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I think we are crying out for more players like Casemiro, players who have that quality but also experience. I’m not sure why the club seem to be looking at signing young players who are just starting their careers. We are in desperate need of older ones like the Matheus Cunhas, Viktor Gyokeres and Victor Osimhens of this world.

The difference they would make to our team would be like night and day.

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For most of this season and last, Casemiro has been awful, taking a complete 180 from what he was in his first season. However, these past three months has seen that 22/23 version return and we couldn’t be happier.

I was one of those people saying that we should be moving him on (his wage of £350k-a-week has something to do with that as well) but with the way he’s playing at the minute and the invaluable-ness of his experience, we almost HAVE to keep him even more so if we continue to bring in more youngsters.

I’m super happy with him at the moment and long may this form continue. We will need it next Thursday and hopefully the final.

Unc Casemiro 👏🙌.

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Casemiro has turned his form around at Man Utd | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)