Amorim can finally axe Casemiro by unleashing Man Utd's amazing 18-year-old

It has been an interesting first season in red for one of Manchester United’s summer signings, Manuel Ugarte. The Uruguayan has shown just how good he can be in the middle of the park, at times showing off his impressive ability to break up play and win tackles.

However, he took time to adapt to the Premier League, and some United supporters were unsure about his signing initially. One of those was analyst and host of The Overlap: The Breakdown, H, who explained that the Red Devils must “be careful of his rashness”.

Overall, in his first season at Old Trafford, the Uruguayan has not played too badly and has certainly taken over the reins in midfield for Casemiro, who is certainly not the player he once was.

How Casemiro has declined at Man United

The Red Devils signed Brazil international Casemiro back in 2022 from Real Madrid. He cost them an eye-wateringly large fee, with United spending £70m including add-ons to bring the midfielder to the club.

The former Los Blancos superstar was excellent in his first season. In a recent interview, he made an interesting suggestion about his own game, saying “as a player, I think Old Trafford saw the best version of Casemiro in my first year”.

Throughout his time at the 13-time Premier League champions, Casemiro has played 109 games, scoring 15 goals and grabbing nine assists, He was a key member of their Carabao Cup winning side in 2022/23, and played a big role in FA Cup success last season, too.

This season has been tougher for the Brazilian. Casemiro’s involvement at Old Trafford has been less than in previous campaigns, and he has made just 26 appearances.

In total, United’s number 18 has played for 1599 minutes, the equivalent of just 17.7 full 90-minute games.

It seems as though Casemiro is slowly being phased out of the side at Old Trafford. If this is the case, the replacement Ruben Amorim can turn to might be waiting in the wings in United’s famous Carrington academy.

Man United’s Casmeiro replacement at Carrington

Few academies in English football are as productive as United’s esteemed Carrington. In recent seasons, they have produced fantastic first-team players including Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho, two players part of their FA Youth Cup winning side of 2022.

Well, perhaps the next player off the excellent conveyor belt of talent at United is midfielder Zach Baumann.

The 18-year-old, who was born in Bolton but qualifies to play for Ukraine, has impressed during his time with the Red Devils academy.

Baumann was described as a “superb” football by Academy Scoop, a United page on X dedicated to covering academy football. He has made 34 appearances collectively for the academy sides, scoring three goals and assisting three in that time.

Baumann record in Man Utd’s academy
Team	Games	Minutes	G/A
Under-18s	26	1415	5
Under-19s	1	15	0
Under-21s	7	558	1
Total	34	1988	6
Stats from Transfermarkt

The 18-year-old has impressed for United’s youth teams this season. He has featured 11 times, grabbing one goal and one assist, although he has been out of action for several months.

The Ukraine U19 international impressed for United’s U19s in the UEFA Youth League, in his sole appearance in the competition. Facing FK Zalgiris U19s, the midfielder played 15 minutes and showed quality on the ball, completing 92% of his passes and winning one tackle and one ground duel, as per Sofascore.

Casemiro’s role for United has changed a lot, and, under former boss Erik ten Hag, he was often playing as one of the highest midfielders in the side. Whilst they are different players the Brazilian and Baumann certainly occupy similar zones on the pitch, with the United academy player operating as an advanced number eight or number 10.

With Casemiro’s future up in the air at Old Trafford, perhaps a first-team introduction for Baumann is not too far away, especially if he can show electric form for the academy upon his return and impress Amorim.