Casemiro Names His Manchester United Icon

Casemiro has named Manchester United legend Paul Scholes as one of the midfielders he admired most growing up.

The former Real Madrid man is a five-time Champions League winner and will surely go down as one of the modern-day greats in his position.

But every player has to start somewhere and, when the Brazil international was learning the game back in his native Sao Paulo, Scholesy was someone whose qualities stood out.

“Well, there are many players… I think there are players that you remember in your life,” the 30-year-old began when asked about his inspirations.

“So, in terms of idols in this position my idol growing up was always [Zinedine] Zidane, [but] here at Manchester United it was always Paul Scholes.”

Casemiro went on to highlight the particular attributes of Scholes he most enjoyed while watching him.

“He’s a player that was small but he got stuck in, he was a fighter, he gave everything on the pitch,” he explained.

“His passing over 50 to 70 metres was incredible. Manchester United have always [had] good players in that position.

“[Michael] Carrick was also a great player so I think that Manchester United have always had good players in that position and in midfield.

“The little guy [Scholes] was very good and what I loved about him when he played was that he was small but he went in hard and fair.”

Casemiro will be hoping to stamp his name among those United midfield greats.

And he clearly has a good knowledge of the club as he reeled off a few more legendary names who would have been front and centre during his formative years.

“You could count on him [Scholes] but in that team, you had Rio Ferdinand, [Edwin] van der Sar, lots of players. Cris, Cristiano [Ronaldo] himself was here too…

“Manchester United is an historic club and it will always be an historic club so it’s an honour for me to be here.”