Manchester United slumped to a disappointing 3-0 friendly defeat against Liverpool at the Williams-Brice Stadium in South Carolina last night.
The Red Devils had chances to find the back of the net, but lacked the cutting edge in their final pre-season game before the Community Shield.
Mason Mount and Marcus Rashford were among those who stood out with their displays and should be fancied to start against Manchester City.
Meanwhile, there were also plenty of underwhelming performances. Casemiro was most disappointing as he struggled to control the proceedings in the centre of the park.
The 32-year-old won just two out of seven duels against the Reds. He lost possession on 16 occasions and was easily dribbled past by Fabio Carvalho for the opening goal.
The Brazilian midfielder had a passing accuracy of 75 percent, completing just three out of 12 long balls.
It is quite clear that Casemiro is no longer in his prime and United need to speed up the process of signing a marquee defensive midfielder in the current transfer window.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Manuel Ugarte is the priority target for the club. The Red Devils have discussed the possibility of signing him on loan with an obligation to buy next summer.
Ugarte would be an ideal fit for manager Erik ten Hag. He completed 91 percent of his passes last term with an average of 3.9 tackles and 6.4 duels won. He made 7.2 recoveries per outing.
The Uruguayan lost possession on just 7.4 occasions per game, completing 78 percent of his long balls. He would be a superb upgrade on Casemiro in the defensive midfield position.
Stats from Sofascore.com
