{"id":1480295,"date":"2026-08-18T14:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?post_type=features&#038;p=1480295"},"modified":"2026-08-18T16:56:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T15:56:31","slug":"tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado could be ideal for Manchester United"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>With two weeks until transfer deadline day, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/football-tips\/manchester-united-betting-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Manchester United<\/a> are not quite done in the market.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Michael Carrick\u2019s men added crucial midfield bodies early on. Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans joined from Chelsea and Aston Villa, respectively. Since then, however, United have struggled in the market. A new left-back remains a priority for the Manchester giants, though despite links with Myles Lewis-Skelly and Lewis Hall, one is not forthcoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, United could still yet benefit from the addition of another central midfielder to ease the burden on Kobbie Mainoo, Santos and Tielemans. Back in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/football-tips\/champions-league-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the Champions League<\/a>, they need bodies in the crucial area. Carrick has turned to Mason Mount to operate in a deeper role. Mount\u2019s injury history means the United boss can ill-afford to rely on the 27-year-old\u2019s availability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-table-of-contents yoast-table-of-contents\"><h2>In this article, we&#8217;ll cover:<\/h2><ul><li><a href=\"#h-barcelona-looking-to-sell-casado\" data-level=\"3\">Barcelona looking to sell Casado?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-on-ball-work-a-stand-out-quality\" data-level=\"3\">On-ball work a stand out quality<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-out-of-possession-struggles\" data-level=\"3\">Out-of-possession struggles<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-barcelona-looking-to-sell-casado\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Barcelona looking to sell Casado?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With time ticking on the summer window, there are still options in the market. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-manu-kone-france-world-cup-man-utd\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">United were believed to be courting Roma\u2019s Manu Kone<\/a> earlier in the summer, though links with the Frenchman have since gone quiet. Another possibility is that United push to sign Marc Casado from La Liga giants Barcelona.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reports from Spain suggest that the Premier League giants have been offered the chance to sign the 22-year-old. Casado was already expected to leave Spotify Camp Nou this summer. Rodri\u2019s impending arrival should accelerate the youngster\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And United would be foolish to pass up the chance to sign Casado. The Spaniard made 24 league appearances last season, albeit just 10 starts. He doesn\u2019t feature in Hansi Flick\u2019s plans, with Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, and now Rodri ahead of the La Masia graduate in the midfield pecking order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lack of game time, though, shouldn\u2019t detract United from moving for Casado. If they want a player who is able to control proceedings from the middle of the park, then he\u2019s an ideal fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-on-ball-work-a-stand-out-quality\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">On-ball work a stand out quality<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a La Masia graduate, what stands out about Casado is the desire to be in possession. It\u2019s engrained on midfielders from a young age in Spain. This saw Barcelona dominate in La Liga last season. 69% possession was far and away the most in Spain\u2019s top tier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And Casado is one who seeks to get on the ball at any given opportunity. Indeed, he averaged 96.1 touches per 90 in Spain\u2019s top tier last term. By comparison, Mainoo (73.6) came closest to matching that haul. While Barcelona\u2019s possession haul skews that return, Casado\u2019s quest to help dictate the tempo is a stand-out trait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">United, after all, managed just 51.6% possession in the Premier League last season, the ninth highest. Carrick worked wonders to drag United to the Champions League, but in time, the approach will be found out.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class='vccm vccm-compare'data-compare=\"eCoqJI4jl52Q50i9RgIph\" data-show-sponsor=\"false\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether they need to see out matches or keep play ticking over, they need relevant passers in the middle of the park to dictate play. Casado, again, thrives here. The Barcelona outcast attempted 82.6 passes per 90 and maintained a 90.89% pass accuracy last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Santos (57.2 and 90.09%, respectively) was Casado\u2019s nearest competitor for both metrics. Even in terms of shifting possession upfield, Casado (16.4) comes second to Tielemans (17) for forward passes per 90.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-out-of-possession-struggles\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Out-of-possession struggles<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The issue, though, stems from Casado\u2019s work off the ball. At 5ft7in, he\u2019s not a midfielder who\u2019ll dwarf opponents. Conversely, he is one who isn\u2019t afraid to put himself about. Unfortunately, this is where Casado falls down a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He committed 2.3 fouls per 90 in La Liga last season, far more than the three central midfielders on the United books. Casado was also carded three times across just 1,179 minutes of league and European action in the 2025\/26 campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s more, Casado also ranked bottom for both tackles (1.8) and interceptions per 90 (0.7) of the four central midfielders. A 49.4% ground duel success rate was also last. Granted, this may well have been due to Barcelona\u2019s dominance. Even so, it\u2019s a shortcoming to his game that would need to worked on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the final knockings of the transfer window, United still have gaps that need filling. They failed to sign top midfield targets Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes, the pair moving to Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively. Casado may not have ranked high on United\u2019s wishlist earlier in the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, despite his off-ball work needing refinement, he\u2019d still be a solid midfield addition. Barcelona need to make sales, too, which should boost United\u2019s chances of luring Casado to Old Trafford.<\/p>\n\n\n<h3><strong>Read more:<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/\"><strong>Latest football news<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/football-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Football betting tips<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/betting-sites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Best betting sites<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/betting-sites\/best-free-bet-offers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Best free bet offers<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/football-tips\/accumulator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Football accumulator tips<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With two weeks until transfer deadline day, Manchester United are not quite done in the market. Michael Carrick\u2019s men added crucial midfield bodies early on. Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans joined from Chelsea and Aston Villa, respectively. Since then, however, United have struggled in the market. A new left-back remains a priority for the Manchester&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3564,"featured_media":1480419,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"Casado","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Manchester United could sign Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado. Here\u2019s why the La Masia graduate could be an ideal fit for Michael Carrick.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"features-category":[],"squawka-category":[],"class_list":["post-1480295","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado could be ideal for Manchester United | Squawka | EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Manchester United could sign Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado. Here\u2019s why the La Masia graduate could be an ideal fit for Michael Carrick.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado could be ideal for Manchester United\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Manchester United could sign Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado. Here\u2019s why the La Masia graduate could be an ideal fit for Michael Carrick.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Squawka | EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-18T15:56:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2026\/08\/18165532\/3F5E8KJ-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1829\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@squawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/features\\\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/features\\\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ben McAleer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d83177c024444113f28c89f65fde90b4\"},\"headline\":\"Why Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado could be ideal for Manchester United\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-18T13:27:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-18T15:56:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/features\\\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":800,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/features\\\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/18165532\\\/3F5E8KJ-scaled.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"accessibilityFeature\":[\"tableOfContents\"]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/features\\\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/features\\\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado could be ideal for Manchester United | Squawka | EN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/features\\\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.squawka.com\\\/en\\\/features\\\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/media.squawka.com\\\/images\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/18165532\\\/3F5E8KJ-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-18T13:27:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-18T15:56:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"Manchester United could sign Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado. 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Here\u2019s why the La Masia graduate could be an ideal fit for Michael Carrick.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-marc-casado-barcelona-man-utd\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2026\/08\/18165532\/3F5E8KJ-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2026\/08\/18165532\/3F5E8KJ-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1829,"caption":"3F5E8KJ Birmingham, UK. 31st July, 2026. Marc Casado of FC Barcelona during the Birmingham City vs FC Barcelona Pre Season Friendly match at St Andrews, Birmingham. 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