Julen Lopetegui names ‘very important’ Man Utd player ahead of Wolves clash

Julen Lopetegui has praised Casemiro ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League encounter with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.

The Red Devils travel to Molineux on the back of a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, a game in which Casemiro put in a superb performance at the base of midfield. The former Real Madrid man has also played an important part in the club’s impressive recent run of just one loss in the last 14.

Speaking ahead of the clash against United on New Year’s Eve, Lopetegui, who knows Casemiro well from their time in Spain and briefly managed the Brazilian in 2018, feels he fulfils an integral role in this United team.

“They have a lot of big players and now they are showing this,” opined the 56-year-old. “They are playing free and showing a very big quality, in the offensive phase they have good players, in the defensive phase they have good players, in the midfield too. I think Casemiro is very important for this team, but the most important thing is what we’re going to do ourselves.

“For me, they are currently one of the best teams, not only in England, because they have improved a lot in these last months. I have seen their matches and I think they are a very complex team with the ball, without the ball, individually, collectively, so we have to be ready to beat them. We have the ambition and the vision to work on this big aim, which is to beat Manchester United.”