Casemiro sends immediate reply to Gary Neville after being dubbed certainly one of Man Utd’s worst transfers

Casemiro left Gary Neville eating his words with a top-quality brace to help Manchester United progress to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

The Real Madrid legend put in one of his best performances in a United shirt during the Red Devils’ 5-2 triumph over Leicester City in the round of 16 on Wednesday evening. He is one of many players to have come in for criticism during Erik ten Hag’s doomed final months.

Neville and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher have been particularly critical of the Brazilian, with the latter telling him to “leave football, before football leaves you”. However, Casemiro’s performance suggests the Brazilian is anything but finished.

He began the scoring with a spectacular 30-yard strike into the top-right corner. He then followed up his own blocked shot to score from close range for his second goal, which extended United’s lead to 4-1.

Fans recognised Casemiro’s game-changing performance by rightfully voting him Player of the Match. Despite some uninspiring performances since his move two years ago, the 32-year-old was in top form as United returned to winning ways.

Casemiro’s display came at an opportune time if he was aiming to counter recent remarks made by Neville about his tenure at Old Trafford. After Ten Hag’s sacking on Monday, the ex-United right-back branded Casemiro as one of the club’s worst signings of all-time.

“The performances have been really poor this season, the results have been shocking, the league position is terrible,” Neville said on the It’s Called Soccer podcast.

“His legacy is definitely winning two trophies in two seasons through a very difficult point. The recruitment to be fair has been appalling for 10 years and he’s been a victim of that himself.

“I think he oversaw two of the worst transfers Manchester United will ever have made in the signings of Casemiro and Antony. They were signed for £140-150m in a panic after the Brentford and Brighton losses. I hope I’m wrong, I hope Casemiro can do a great job for the club for four or five years and I hope Antony comes good.”