‘He’s worse off than when he came’ – Ferdinand claims Man Utd star will feel ‘disrespected’ by Ten Hag | OneFootball

Rio Ferdinand thinks Man Utd midfielder Casemiro will feel “disrespected” after he started on the bench against Man City.

The Red Devils forked out £70m on the Brazilian in the summer transfer window from Real Madrid with Erik ten Hag’s side crying out for a defensive midfielder.

But Casemiro is yet to start a Premier League match with his only appearance in the starting XI coming against Real Sociedad in the Europa League.

The 30-year-old was left out again on Sunday as Man Utd were thrashed 6-3 against City in the Manchester derby but was introduced with 31 minutes remaining.

And Ferdinand thinks Casemiro will now be getting frustrated at his lack of starts with the Brazil international one of the best defensive midfielders “in the world”.

“Casemiro’s another one, he’s sitting there going, ‘I’ve won five Champions Leagues with this team’,” Ferdinand told his Vibe with FIVE YouTube channel.

“I’ve heard people today say, ‘if he plays he needs legs around him, he can’t play with Eriksen and Bruno’. This geezer played with two snails in Modric and Toni Kroos – he just knows his way around a football pitch.

“He is a fantastic defensive midfielder, one of, if not the best, in the world before he came to Man United.”

When asked whether Casemiro’s form meant he shouldn’t have started for Man Utd instead of McTominay, Ferdinand replied: “You can’t say that.

“The geeze hasn’t been given a chance, he hasn’t been given a fair crack of the whip. He’s come in and played in a Europa League game against some dead team.

“He ain’t been given a start in the team when he’s fit and ready, he’s regressed in terms of fitness, so he’s now worse off than when he came. He still had to get up to speed when he came from that league to this league.

“I wonder the impact it’s having on someone like him. Yes he’s experience and whatnot, but he must be sitting there thinking, ‘wow, I’m happy to be here at Man United but I’m feeling a little bit disrespected here, given what I’ve done’. I’d be surprised if he’s not feeling like that.

“I think we will [see Ronaldo and Casemiro play], but I think it’s the context of what games they’re playing in – they could be playing midweek Europa game. That won’t sit well with them.

“They’d be sitting there going, ‘wow, I’m like the Rumbelows Cup player right now, the Carabao Cup player’.

“These are the sub-plots to what Ten Hag has to deal with. This is what management is about, he’s got to manage that type of player, that type of ego, the pride that comes with these types of players. If you’re not playing, you’ll see a difference in the way they look at you now, and that’s what you’ve got to manage.

“He didn’t have those problems at Ajax with the players he had, he was very much in control, the master of the universe there. Here you’ve got big egos to deal with and this is the task when you come to a top club.”