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| Casemiro officially announced a Manchester United player |
Manchester United have confirmed they have reached an agreement with Spanish giant Real Madrid to sign Brazilian midfielder Casemiro
Man United will pay £59.5m (€70m) for the 30-year-old Brazilian. Reported by Sky Sports the transfer is subject to the agreement of personal terms, UK visa requirements and a medical.
Casemiro is expected to touch down in the UK in the next 24 to 48 hours to undergo a medical and sign a four-year contract with United, which has the option of a further year.
Casemiro became a midfield meastro since moving to Real from Sao Paulo, Brazil. His partnership with tactically and clinical midfielders like Modric and Toni Kross has transformed the Brazilian to an elite level.
How I began playing as a Defensive Midfielder
“When I went to the trial at Sau Paulo I was a forward. I was pretty strong, I was always the tallest player at that age and I used to score a lot of goals with my head.
“When I turned up, I was about 12 or 13 years old, there were about 300 players there and they were only going to choose 50. I remember very well that when the coach asked who were goalkeepers, three people put up their hands.
Then he asked how many were forwards and 40 or so kids put their hands up and I said to myself, ‘there’s a lot of competition so I won’t be a striker.’ The same thing happened when they asked for midfielders and so I did the same.
Then the coach said: ‘Are there any defensive midfielders?’ Seven or eight hands went up so I said to myself: ‘Ok, I’m a defensive midfielder.'
“I trained as a defensive midfielder during the trial and the coach pulled me aside and said: ‘You’re not a defensive midfielder, you came here as a forward.’ But I kept insisting that I was and that’s where it all started.”