Andrey Santos has made his pitch plainly enough. The Manchester United midfielder says he can do what Casemiro did, and he has framed himself as the kind of deep midfielder the club want in Michael Carrick's setup. That is not just talk from a new signing. United paid Chelsea £50 million for the 22-year-old, and he has started all four friendlies.

Santos' own case for the No. 6 role

The strongest line came straight from him. "Casemiro for me, it's like a legend, you know. So now he's gone out. Now I'm here so I feel that I can do like Casemiro did in the last season and I'm here to do it," Andrey Santos told manchestereveningnews.co.uk.

He was just as direct about the role itself. "My qualities, I like and prefer playing more deep like a number six. So I try help my teammates without the ball and with the ball I love breaking the lines," he said. That is the profile United are buying into, a midfielder who wants to sit deeper, help without possession and carry the ball through pressure when the game opens up.

The early signs have been tidy enough. Santos has averaged a 7.1 rating across his last five matches, played 293 minutes and added one goal. None of that proves he is ready to take over Casemiro's job in competitive football, but it does show he is not arriving as a passenger.

United's rebuild and the PSG test

The broader move also tells you how United see the squad. Santos arrived alongside Youri Tielemans as part of an £85 million midfield rebuild, which is a serious investment in one area of the pitch. He also has six Brazil caps, although he was not particularly close to Brazil's World Cup squad this summer.

His most recent eye-catching outing came in Gothenburg on Saturday, where he controlled the midfield against PSG in pre-season. That is a useful marker, but it should stay in its place. Pre-season is not the same as the pressure of a league run or a Champions League night, and the article's own framing leaves this as a projection rather than a solved problem.

Still, the confidence is real, and it is backed by the way he talks about the role. United did not bring in a shy midfielder, and they did not spend £50 million on Chelsea's 22-year-old to hide him. Whether he becomes Casemiro's long-term successor will depend on the real matches, but Santos has already done the first part of the job by saying he wants the No. 6 spot and backing it up with a decent start in pre-season.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →