Friday, March 29News That Matters

Erik ten Hag never wanted to sign Casemiro: ‘He doesn’t trust him’

Former England striker Darren Bent says Erik ten Hag didn’t want to sign Casemiro and claims he ‘doesn’t trust’ the new Manchester United star.

United spent £70m to sign Casemiro from Real Madrid over the summer, but the Brazilian has barely played for the Red Devils.




Casemiro, who has signed a four-year deal at the club, is yet to start a Premier League game, making five substitute appearances after his move from the Bernabeu.

Many United fans hoped to see Casemiro start the Manchester derby but Ten Hag once again started Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen, with Casemiro coming on for the final 30 minutes.

Bent believes this was more proof that Ten Hag ‘doesn’t trust’ Casemiro and has even suggested the former Ajax manager did not sanction his transfer from Real Madrid.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Bent said: ‘When Manchester United signed Antony, if I can remember rightly, he barely trained and he was straight in the team.




‘Ten Hag was like, “I know him, I want him, he goes straight in”. I just question whether Casemiro was someone Ten Hag truly wanted.

‘You look at Casemiro’s resume and what he’s done in the game, played at the highest level, won the biggest competitions by the way and in the biggest game of Manchester United’s season so far, he doesn’t go in.




‘I just question first of all whether he was Ten Hag’s signing. And secondly, I get it with the legs that [Scott] McTominay’s got, can get about, puts himself about, has done well in this run Manchester United have been on

‘But that was a question mark when a lot of people were [talking about] Casemiro and I went, “Oh, Manchester United’s biggest game of the season and he’s not starting”. That made me think if Ten Hag does trust him or really wanted him.’

After United’s 6-3 defeat to Manchester City, Ten Hag explained why Casemiro is yet to start a Premier League game, he said : ‘On the day we signed him, we started to win and it’s about the team.

‘The team is doing really well, it’s not against Casemiro, it’s for, in this case, Scott McTominay, he performed great in the team and then we get into a run.




‘But I’m sure it will be important for us in the long and short-term, he will find himself in the team but it has to come in a natural way.’

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