Rio Ferdinand has doubled down on his glowing assessment of Casemiro while highlighting the unique qualities he will continue to bring to the Manchester United team. Casemiro, 30, was signed from Real Madrid this summer and was finally handed his first Premier League start on Sunday night.
It came during a 2-1 victory over Everton at Goodison Park as Casemiro made a telling contribution. After recovering from an early mistake in possession - which led to Alex Iwobi opening the scoring - Casemiro laid on an assist for former Real teammate Cristiano Ronaldo to secure the three points with his 700th club strike.
Speaking about the Brazil international post-match, Ferdinand waxed lyrical in the BT Sport studio and has gone on to pinpoint exactly what Casemiro will offer United moving forward. Casemiro played alongside Christian Eriksen in the engine room with Bruno Fernandes operating in the No.10 position.
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Speaking on his FIVE podcast, Ferdinand said: "I had confidence that this guy will weather the storm, but it was an introduction to the Premier League and the pace of it. The Manchester United team have already shown us this season that when they go down, they capitulate."
Ferdinand added: "Casemiro, with the ball, the clip I set up on the show was Iwobi doing a stepover, he nicked the ball back off him and then bang, straight into Ronaldo. Goal.
"That little scene really encapsulated what he's about. With the ball he's decent and will give it to players who can play forward and whatnot but, defensively, he was picking up positions that as a defender I could see and I would be going 'thank you, thank you'.
"He sits in pockets where the ball can't go so the players from the opposition will be saying they can't pass it there because he's there. And he's so valuable for other players, he makes other players better in that sense and it's a fine art. He's the only midfielder in our squad who instinctively knows how to defend and wants to defend.
"He's not the be-all and end-all, he's not the answer to everything. But he will give us that stability that we haven't had for many years now in that area of the team."
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