Finally, a day has come that many never thought would. Manchester United have signed a defensive midfielder.
That defensive midfielder just so happens to be one of the very greatest to ever play in his position, and he is more than familiar with a few faces at the club already.
Alongside Raphaël Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, he was integral to a Real Madrid side that won the UEFA Champions League four times in five years.
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The comments of his teammates on his exit, notably Toni Kroos and Luka Modrić who partnered him to form a midfield triumvirate dubbed the ‘Bermuda triangle’, should show United fans the player they are getting.
But it is a United player who has been a teammate of Casemiro’s more recently than either Varane or Ronaldo who UtdDistrict feel could be one of if not the biggest beneficiary from his signing.
Fred is a player who throughout his United career has constantly switched between blowing hot and cold. There are a plethora of reasons for this inconsistency, some down to him and some on management.
But for his country, Brazil, Fred is consistently a standout player. A key factor of this is playing next to Casemiro, the anchor of A Seleção. So how exactly does their partnership work?
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To provide some background, Brazil often line up in a nominal 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3. In the latter formation, the third midfielder is usually Lucas Paquetá who pushes on higher up in possession, leaving the other two as a double pivot.
As a team, Brazil are very possession-dominant. When they don’t have the ball, they work with great intensity to win it back and the midfielders are crucial to this.
United fans will be more than familiar with Fred’s fighting nature and willingness to press up high, chasing the ball whenever he can.
For Brazil this fighting spirit is equally strong, but there is one crucial difference. As seen above, Fred as usual presses high when his side do not have the ball. Here, however, a midfielder remains back to cover.
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That midfielder just so happened to be presented to fans at Old Trafford last night before United’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool.
Part of the problem with Fred at United has been that he is a player who needs cover, but when Nemanja Matić was playing he had to be the cover, and the two do not mix.
For Brazil, Casemiro offers him that cover and allows him to play in that advanced ball winner role he so loves, disrupting teams as they try to build possession and harassing opponents constantly.
Casemiro himself is an extremely active, intense defensive player. One of the most intense in the world in fact. But he possesses the positional intelligence and has the discipline to sit that Fred doesn’t quite have.
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Their heat maps for Brazil in the 2022 COMNEBOL World Cup Qualifiers reflect these roles out of possession.
As we can see, Fred is often seen playing higher up the field than Casemiro, whose job is more so to shield the defence.
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Fred is still very often seen deep though, not only defending alongside his partner but also helping him when Brazil are building out from the back.
At the Copa América, where Brazil made it to the final, Casemiro averaged 48.8 passes per game whilst Fred averaged 54.7. In World Cup qualification, it was 60.8 from Casemiro vs 44.8 from Fred.
The two have shown they will share responsibility of the ball and help each other, which will be important for United who are still lacking that specialist build up midfielder.
Both players have excellent qualities of their own on the ball, United fans have seen Fred’s on many occasions in the last few years, but neither are specialists at this and will need support.
For the national team this comes in the form of Neymar who, whilst not a midfielder, can run an entire game by himself in a way almost no other footballer can.
United do not have a Neymar-type player. The closest is probably Jadon Sancho, but even he falls way short of the great Brazilian despite the young winger’s obvious talent.
Across pre-season Fred was coached into playing a ‘connector’ role in possession, where he would be the first midfielder to drop and collect the ball from centre-backs in build up.
At Real Madrid, it was often Toni Kroos who played this role with Casemiro positioning himself slightly higher than the German.
Whilst Fred is sadly not Toni Kroos, this could be a dynamic that United fans see in possession should the club not land Frenkie de Jong or a midfielder of that profile.
Casemiro is an excellent signing, and the idea of him and Fred together is an extremely exciting prospect for United fans.
Work rate has been a problem at the club for some time, but this midfield pairing will certainly not be a part of that problem.
Casemiro is a leader who demands that all his teammates match his own dedication, and Fred has led by example very well for United over the last year especially.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Manchester United, Fred, Casemiro, Brazil, Erik Ten Hag