Spanish football expert Graham Hunter has urged Manchester United fans to be patient with Casemiro.
Hunter insists the former Real Madrid midfielder will need time to adjust to life in the Premier League.
“Unique is a big word, but Real Madrid’s style is so unique that it’s impossible that Casemiro plays identically to how he’s done in his glory years with them,” he told the United website.
“I don’t think that’s the way he’s going to be asked to play at United, though.
“I’m very hopeful that he will adapt to what’s around him. He’s proven to be a genuine winner. He has been central to a Real Madrid side which has been there or thereabouts in La Liga and the Champions League for a long time.
“He’s got a tremendous competitive character and football brain. He’s a footballer who understands when to take chances, when to take opportunities.
“He understands very quickly if he’s going to be beaten, if a team-mate’s going to be beaten, in terms of knowing in that split-second where everybody is in midfield.
“He makes a lot of challenges, not because he’s not quick enough, but because he’s very good in that streetwise way of evaluating whether or not the situation can cost his team a goal.
“He is a player who will unquestionably balance up making a foul and the wider cost, but it’s absolutely wrong to call him a dirty player.
“He’s been sent off twice – and once was for refusing to back up for a free-kick, so he’s not a dirty player.
“He brings street smarts and cojones in midfield, he’s got a good physique, he’s pretty damn good aerially at both ends, so he’s tremendously well equipped.
“The Premier League can be buzz-bomb relentless, so it takes any player time to adapt, whether they’re magical like Casemiro or not; but for aggression, mentality and character then United have definitely got the right guy.”
