The 31-year-old Brazilian had a difficult childhood growing up in the impoverished Sao Jose Dos Campos neighborhood, which is located outside of São Paulo.
Along with his two brothers and their mother Maria, who had to work multiple jobs to make ends meet, he was abandoned by his father.
Being the oldest kid, Casemiro fearlessly assumed the role of man of the home, which helped to mold him into the outstanding leader he is today.
In 2018 the midfielder said: “If I see him on the street today, I won’t recognise him,
He had a serious fight with my mother when I was five and left the family for my mother to manage.
I’ve wanted to meet him because I have no grudge against him. It was what God wanted for me. That’s why I have always left it just the way it is.”
When the shiny new £70 million addition to Manchester United showed up for his first training session on Thursday at the club’s opulent Carrington base, he undoubtedly had thoughts of his modest origins.
The midfield player was shocked to discover he was living in his own bedroom, eating, having air conditioning, and watching TV for the first time when he jumped the nest at the age of 11 to play for Sao Paulo’s youth squad.
When he was fifteen years old and playing in the Nike Cup with Sao Paolo in the Theatre of Dreams, who knows what was going through his mind?
Casemiro never forgets the past, and during an interview in 2018, he broke down in tears remembering how, as a child, he couldn’t buy a certain brand of Brazilian yoghurt drink.
Through tears he said: “As a child I always wanted to drink these, but we never had the money. It didn’t cost much, around 20 cents.”
When he finally hangs up his boots, his Real Madrid teammates have predicted that he would be a world-class manager since those memories have only made him stronger.
Guillermo Raimundo, an expert on Spanish football for SunSport, said: “He came from a poor background and that has helped his character.
He is a leader because he knows his origins and that’s always in his mind.
Casemiro was a leader at Real, a big voice, everyone heard him. Among the Brazilian players he was like a father to the youngsters Vini Jr, Rodrigo and Militao.
He doesn’t need to be a captain to be a leader. I think the same will happen at United.”