Agent of Casemiro reveals how hard it has been for the player to remain out of action for a month

The agent of Manchester United star Casemiro, Oscar Ribot, has revealed how hard it has been for the Brazilian to be out of action for a month.

Casemiro received a straight red card against Southampton in a league game last month. That action suspended him for the following four domestic games. He then missed the FA Cup quarter-final tie against Fulham and three league games against Newcastle United, Brentford and Everton respectively.

The Brazil international has now served his suspension and is back available for the crunch games in the next few weeks. He would have been anyway available for both the games against Sevilla in the Europa League though. The first leg of that tie is tonight at Old Trafford.

Here’s what his agent Ribot said about missing games for a considerable period of time (h/t Guardian):

“Taking football away from Case is like taking food from his table, it’s like he can’t live, can’t breathe.

“He wakes up thinking about football and goes to bed thinking about football. He watches hundreds of games: any team, any league. I’ve seen him watch Chinese games because there is always some detail. He says he won’t be a coach, but he will. He’s already one in a footballer’s body. This month, he’s watched everything, calculating the points needed and the days left.”

Seeing how good the 31-year-old is as a player, it is no surprise that missing games would have hurt him more than anyone. It is also not perplexing that he watches a lot of football to learn about every detail. There is a reason why he has been one of the best defensive midfielders in the last six years.

With Christian Eriksen back from injury and making a cameo appearance against Everton last Saturday, Erik ten Hag has a few options now to pick his midfield from.

When fit and available, Casemiro is an automatic pick in the number six position, while Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes can take up the number eight slots. Marcel Sabitzer has been in decent form as well.

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Having options is always helpful for the manager, especially when games are coming thick and fast. He may rotate them according to match situations and try to field the best possible XI at the start of every game.