Real Madrid: 3 players who improved the most in 2019-2020

3. Casemiro

When Real Madrid lost to Atletico Madrid 3-7 in the pre-season, Casemiro was on his vacation. It’s reported that he cut his vacation short to come back and start training to help Madrid immediately. That’s the mentality that the Brazilian has shown off throughout this season for the Whites.

Under Santiago Solari last season, Marcos Llorente seemed to have usurped Casemiro’s position in the team. While Llorente was as defensively strong as Casemiro, he made up for it through his ball-playing abilities and press resistance. There were many shouts for Casemiro to be even sold-off as part of the rebuild.

But then Zidane arrived and Casemiro was immediately back in the line-up. Such was the confidence Zidane had in Casemiro that he sold-off Llorente and no back-up was bought for the Brazilian.

The Brazilian in return has paid off the faith shown him in by the manager by turning into Madrid’s most important player this season. The defensive midfielder has been a solid rock in midfield, as usual, this season. Zidane has asked Casemiro to sit deep in Madrid’s midfield, unlike past seasons where he would sometimes play as a 10. That change was only possible because of Casemiro’s improved press resistance and passing abilities.

Casemiro this season has been indispensable for the team. He has played the most minutes in the team with 3991 minutes in all competitions, barely getting any rest. He averages 2.7 tackles and 1.9 interceptions per game, according to whoscored.com, in La Liga.

This resurgence from Casemiro, where there were multiple shouts to be sold off to being widely accepted as Madrid’s MVP this season is why he takes a place in this list.