Liverpool legend comes clean about Man Utd’s Real Madrid bet

Jamie Carragher had been relentlessly critical of Casemiro ever since the Brazilian joined Manchester United. In each of his appearances on Sky Sports, the former Liverpool defender openly pointed out what he saw as the midfielder’s poor performances for the Manchester club. That stance shifted this weekend, during his latest television appearance while covering United’s game against Fulham.

Casemiro changes Carragher’s mind

After publicly stating in May 2024 that “football had left him,” Carragher now said: “Now it’s fair to say that football hasn’t left him.” He continued: “Considering what he’s producing this season in the Premier League – and not just against Fulham at home – think about what he did last week away at Arsenal and at home against Manchester City.” It was a clear reversal of tone, acknowledging a level Casemiro had not been credited with for months.

Carragher also admitted that the former Real Madrid player would be justified in throwing that earlier comment back at him. “Casemiro would be fully entitled, if he wanted, to get his revenge and say to me: ‘Quit punditry before punditry quits you!’ He could definitely bring one of those back,” the Englishman said on Sky Sports. “You have to give him credit – he looks like a completely different player.”

Finally, Carragher addressed the Brazilian’s physical transformation. “Physically, he also looks like a different player. Even when I was saying those things, you’d look at him and he seemed like an old man reaching the end of his career. Whether he let himself go a little or has now become ultra-professional, physically he looks completely different,” he concluded. The change, he suggested, has been impossible to ignore.

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