Graeme Souness has fired a stern warning at Manchester United star Casemiro over his disciplinary record after the Brazilian picked up his second red card of the season last weekend.
Casemiro, 31, was sent off for a late, nasty-looking tackle on Carlos Alcaraz during United's goalless draw against Southampton at Old Trafford. However, as this was his second red card this term, Casemiro will now miss four domestic matches - starting with the Red Devils' FA Cup quarter-final tie against Fulham.
There has been a lot of talk surrounding Casemiro's disciplinary record after Erik ten Hag came out and backed the midfielder. He said: "Casemiro has played over 500 games in Europe. He never had a red card. And now, what is it? In [the space of a few] games and 20 games [in total] in the Premier League, he has two red cards."
However, it has been revealed that Casemiro has actually been booked 53 times since the start of the 2019/20 campaign and has arguably been fortunate not to have been shown a red card earlier. Given that yellow card record, Souness has admitted that referees will be looking out for him and "not in a good way".
"Casemiro at Manchester United is not a dirty player, either, but he does have a record," Souness told the Daily Mail. "Consider this: in his last three-and-a-half seasons for Manchester United and Real Madrid, he has been booked 53 times!
"That is astonishing. He has also been sent off three times, his latest red coming against Southampton last weekend. As I say, I don't think he is a malicious player but over the course of his 10-year career he has averaged about 15 yellows a season and you don’t rack up numbers like those by accident.
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"The upshot of his second red card for United in a short space of time is that when he returns from his four-game ban he will find referees looking out for him - and not in a good way. In football, a reputation as being someone who likes to play on the edge of the law can be hard to shake."
Casemiro will serve the first of his four-match ban against Fulham, before missing three Premier League fixtures against Newcastle, Brentford and Everton after the international break. Marcel Sabitzer is expected to replace the midfielder in the side and Ten Hag admitted that although they will miss Casemiro, they have done really well without him during the time he has spent out of the XI.
"We have had many more games without Casemiro," Ten Hag said. "We have done really well without Casemiro. Against Arsenal, the two against Leeds, I remember all the games and I think we did really well also without Casemiro at the start of the season.
"I want to have Casemiro available, because he has a huge impact on our game. We also won many games without Casemiro and we have to do it with other players. It’s about the players who are available."
