Revealed: Why McTominay is playing instead of Casemiro

FT Desk

• 5 Oct 2022 22:30 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has explained why he keeps picking Scott McTominay instead of big summer signing Casemiro.

Casemiro was arguably Man Utd’s signature move of the summer market, as they splashed out over €70 million for the legendary midfielder from Real Madrid.

However, Ten Hag has barely given Casemiro a look-in so far.

The 30-year-old has yet to start a Premier League game, playing just 82 minutes in total. He has just one start in all competitions, that being in the Europa League.

This has caused a lot of controversy as Ten Hag has instead been choosing the much-maligned McTominay, despite the consensus long being that the Scot is not up to the level required of Man Utd.

This point of view was further strengthened on Sunday when Man Utd were thrashed 6-3 by rivals Man City in the Manchester Derby.

Casemiro was only introduced in the second half of that game when the match was already well out of sight.

Todo Fichajes even reported this week that Casemiro has told his close circle that he regrets leaving Madrid.

Ten Hag tried to explain why he has been snubbing Casemiro for McTominay.

What did Ten Hag say?

“I said already before, it had nothing to do with Casemiro, it was all to do with Scott because, when you look at Brentford, he wasn’t in the team [and] we lose. Then [from] the day that Casemiro signed, we played six games and we won five,” Ten Hag is quoted as saying by the official Manchester United website.

“And, in five games, he [McTominay] played. In one game, he didn’t, and that was against [Real] Sociedad [a 1-0 loss]. So, for me, that was logical [to play McTominay] because it’s competition in the team. For me, it wasn’t a choice [not to play him].

“He performed really well, he developed really well and it had nothing to do with Casemiro, but I’m sure Casemiro will play a really important role.”

It remains to be seen if Casemiro will now start playing more and even earn his first Premier League start of the season this weekend against Everton.