Manchester United boss Michael Carrick has a serious issue to solve before the 2026/27 Premier League campaign begins
For the longest time, Casemiro’s spell at Manchester United seemed set to go down in history as a disappointment – but by the time he left Old Trafford at the end of the 2025/26 season, he had established himself as one of the most important members of Michael Carrick’s squad after enjoying his best year in a red shirt. Replacing his experience and defensive nous was never going to be easy.
It didn’t necessarily have to be quite this hard, however. United’s plans for the summer transfer window revolved around a much-needed overhaul of the midfield but they have already missed out on two key targets after Tottenham Hotspur outbid them for Mateus Fernandes and Atalanta’s Éderson failed a medical. Two fine players were off the menu, and a rethink was required.
Plan B, as it transpired, was to sign Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa for £35m and Chelsea’s Andrey Santos for a fee which could rise to a hefty £50m with add-ons – one experienced campaigner with proven quality and one talented youngster with much yet to prove. But will their arrivals make Manchester United better, or will the loss of Casemiro prove to be damaging to their chances of another top four finish? And if they are to sign another midfielder, what are they missing?
Will Manchester United miss Casemiro this season?
£50m signing Andrey Santos has played just 28 Premier League matches to dateplaceholder image
£50m signing Andrey Santos has played just 28 Premier League matches to date | Getty Images
On paper, Tielemans and Santos seem to have been signed to occupy different roles – Tielemans, although versatile, is more likely to compete with Kobbie Mainoo for the progressive role in Carrick’s central midfield pairing, while Santos seems to be earmarked for the anchoring role which Casemiro typically occupied last season.
Carrick’s system, assuming he doesn’t plan any significant changes after the summer’s business is done, required Casemiro to take up a more conservative role, holding his position in front of the defence in order to give Mainoo the freedom to come both forward and wide, providing a link between Bruno Fernandes and one of the wingers.
That system was designed to create three-on-two overloads on one of the flanks or at least to put a group of technical and creative players in close proximity who could hopefully outplay the players put in front of them. Most of Manchester United’s chances flowed from the situations created by that system.
Casemiro’s role was crucial. With Mainoo often taking up quite advanced roles, the Brazilian frequently found himself as a one-man defensive shield, the only player in place who could shut down counter-attacks through the middle before they reached the final third. Mainoo’s assignment was close enough to a typical box-to-box role that he would be back in defence when the opposing build-up was slower, but Casemiro’s ability to shut down moves solo when required was essential to Carrick’s success.
With Casemiro gone, then, what Manchester United need is someone who can hold the fort in the same way, making the tackles and forcing the turnovers required to give the more advanced midfielder – be it Mainoo, Tielemans, or someone else – the license to support the attack without worrying too much about what might happen if they lose the ball upfield.
The immediate question, then, is whether either of the new signings can take up the slack. Tielemans probably isn’t intended to play the role, but may be compelled to do so in a pinch, especially given that Santos – likely a more natural fit for the anchoring position – only has 13 Premier League starts to his name.
The table below, which use the player’s statistics from the 2025/26 Premier League season only for a comparison of recent form, looks at how the two new arrivals compare with Casemiro and Mason Mount, who played well when filling in for the Brazilian towards the end of the season, across several statistical metrics that are typically key for holding midfielders.
Statistics from Sofascore and include the 2025/26 Premier League season onlyplaceholder image
Statistics from Sofascore and include the 2025/26 Premier League season only | Getty Images
While there are plenty of caveats about the stats – not least the relatively small sample size for Santos and the fact that Mount often played a very different role, which will affect his defensive output – the key takeaway is that Casemiro is simply better than his potential replacements in terms of his capacity to impact play in a defensive position.
Santos’ excellent one-on-one success rate stands out as a promising data point – as a player who almost never attempts to dribble past an opponent, that massive 68% win rate is a strictly defensive statistic, which isn’t quite the case with Tielemans – but he isn’t yet the complete package. He won’t get stood up by players who want to dribble past him very often and he makes most of his tackles, but he isn’t always in the right place at the right time to make a key intervention.
That’s to be expected from an inexperienced 22-year-old, of course, and the statistics and eye test both suggest that Santos has the fundamentals to be an excellent defensive midfielder once he’s learned the ropes. United, however, need a ready-made replacement for Casemiro now if they’re going to be bothering the top end of the table again.
Tielemans holds up quite well as a defensive player by the raw data, but using him in an anchoring role would rob the team of his playmaking quality. If Carrick envisions a more traditional double pivot next season, then Tielemans and Mainoo could work well together, but such a pairing would likely offer less protection for the back four. Mount, it would seem, was a sticking plaster solution and not a permanent answer. That’s unsurprising given that his background is much more attacking.
There’s something else that United will be losing with Casemiro’s departure – the threat he provides from set pieces. The 34-year-old scored nine goals last season, eight of them with his head, and in an era in which dead ball situations are becoming increasingly important routes to goal, his loss could be felt quite keenly.
Tielemans is three inches shorter than Casemiro and hardly noted for his imposing physical presence in the box. Santos is just an inch taller than Tielemans, but did score 10 league goals (including three with his head) while on loan at RC Strasbourg in a hugely impressive 2024/25 campaign, so there’s at least some chance that he can replace some of Casemiro’s goals – although we saw little evidence of the more attacking side to his game last season at Stamford Bridge.
What Manchester United need if they sign a third midfielder
Bournemouth's Alex Scott has been heavily linked with a transfer to Manchester Unitedplaceholder image
Bournemouth's Alex Scott has been heavily linked with a transfer to Manchester United | Getty Images
The statistics may suggest that Manchester United have yet to find an adequate direct replacement for Casemiro despite spending £85m on new midfielders already – but reports also indicate quite firmly that they are likely to sign a third player as part of their overhaul of the positional group, especially now that Manuel Ugarte has been ruled out for most or all of the 2026/27 season after rupturing his ACL during the World Cup.
A lengthy list of players have been linked with a move to Old Trafford, including France international Manu Koné and Bournemouth’s Alex Scott, who has reportedly turned down the offer of a new contract at Dean Court.
A third signing could change the dynamic completely if they’re a strong enough defensive midfielder to play the anchoring role successfully while Santos learns the ropes – and their interest in Éderson strongly suggests that Carrick and Manchester United’s transfer team are conscious of the need to sign a defensively-minded player who can unlock Mainoo, even if that particular deal ultimately collapsed.
Fundamentally, what United are currently lacking, at least on paper, is a player who combines defensive quality, physical presence and – perhaps most importantly – the positional understanding to be in the right place at the right time to shut moves down. That’s what Santos has yet to demonstrate that he can do at the very highest level.
Scott could theoretically fit the bill (his statistical output last season was certainly very impressive) but plays more of a box-to-box role at Bournemouth thanks to his ball-carrying skills, while Koné typically operates in more advanced areas down the channels and in the opposing half – he’s a ball-winner, but not a natural in the anchoring role. Perhaps Scott could adapt to a more conservative role at Old Trafford easily enough, but that would also require taking a leap of faith.
As it stands, Carrick and United appear to have three options: To stick with the current system and deploy Santos as the holding midfielder, trusting that he will learn on the job but knowing that he isn’t at Casemiro’s level just yet; to sign a player like Scott or Koné and move to a double pivot knowing that it might put more onus on the back four, with more attacks getting to that level; or to sign a more experienced midfield anchor who can replicate Casemiro’s output even if that means spending a significant sum on an older player.
As it stands, United look most likely to either change the shape of their midfield and gamble on successful adaption, or to put themselves in a position in which they need to force a square peg into a Casemiro-shaped hole. His departure could yet prove extremely costly. Imagine saying that just a couple of years ago.