The curious case of Casemiro

In football, things don't always turn out to be the way we expect it to be. That here is the case with Casemiro. Originally named, Carlos Henrique José Francisco Venâncio Casimiro, was born on the 23rd of February 1992 and started his career at Sao Paulo, from which he made an initial loan switch to Real Madrid, that was later made permanent for an undisclosed fee. 

He started of at the Real Madrid B team in January of 2013, made a total of 15 appearances and scoring one goal in the process. 

He was then drafted into the first team but due to uncertainties about his quality and competition in the squad, was loaned out to Fc Porto on July, 2014 and that's where everything turned around for the player. At the Stadio Dragao, he made 40 appearances and made such an impression that Merengues were forced to activating a return clause and stumped up $10m, I guess this is probably the one thing Benitez got right during his traumatic stint at Bernabau and even after he was replaced by Zizou, Casemiro continued to impress and was even stated as being the most important player of the Madrid team that wemnt on to Win the UCL in May, 2016.

It's not only at his club side that things are going well as in the Brazil National team, he's a firm favorite of the relatively new manager, Tite, as he plays as the single Pivot in the coach's preferred 4-3-3 formation, letting Neymar, Gabriel Jesus and the other attack minded players of the Selecao express themselves.

It's worth noting that his rise to prominence wasn't as rosy as I may have depicted it and at some point, was even assumed to be in the class of the lost generation of Brazilian Talent that shine brightly but burn out swiftly, his light wasn't quite as bright when he started of but it's clear now for all to see. the party lifestyle and the want-it-now mentality that usually derails the careers certain Selecao stars threatened to mae him a footnote in football history but the man we have today is a player who has vowed to put the team first and prefers to be the invisible wall in the team. Today that man is attempting to make history as he prepares to play a pivotal role in a star studded Madrid side who want to be the first to defend the UCL. Though one may be talented, the ego gets in the way of his shine but with Humility, Hard work and patience, we could still light up the stage.