THE impending departure of Casemiro is one of the least surprising bits of news to come out from Manchester United this season.
He was always going to be released. It would have been remarkable if he’d stayed.
He is one of the club’s highest earners on just shy of £350,000 a week and turns 34 next month.
His peak season was his first, so it would have been totally illogical for United to have kept him somehow for a fifth and final year.
His form over the past year has been okay, mainly confined to European football last season.
However, he had a heroic role in that remarkable recovery against Lyon in the Europa League quarter-final when United came from 4-2 down to win 5-4.
In fairness to him, this season he’s not been redundant, which some expected he could be given the pace of the Premier League.
Where there has been one game per week and Manuel Ugarte has been so untrustworthy, Casemiro has got by and done decently.
He was somehow named man of the match for the Manchester derby last week when there were probably six or seven United players who outperformed him.
But from his perspective, he could show potential suitors that he’s still got it.
Ultimately, signing an ageing midfielder from Real Madrid for £60million up front in a deal possibly rising to £70m was not a good look.
That is before the £73m outlay on wages across four years.
It came after United spent the entirety of that summer trying to convince Frenkie de Jong to leave Barcelona.
Casemiro was exceptional that first season, a worthy contender for United’s Player of the Year award, scoring the winner in the Carabao Cup fianl.
Erik ten Hag called him the cement between the stones because he balanced out a midfield that was crying out for a defensive midfielder.
At the time, he was the best in class because he was a world-class midfielder for Real Madrid and his first season at Old Trafford.
It started to go downhill quite quickly in the second season because he was in a mismatch of a midfield duo with Mason Mount.
That experiment lasted two games before Casemiro got injured and struggled for rhythm.
Rather selflessly, he played a lot of games at centre-half amid an injury crisis, but that did him no favours.
Most infamously at Crystal Palace, United got battered 4-0 and he got very easily turned by Michael Olise for the first goal.
That selflessness really saw Casemiro play his way out of the FA Cup final side.
When push came to shove, Ten Hag opted to start Sofyan Amrabat and it transpired Casemiro wasn’t even on the bench after suffering an injury of some sort.
It looked like the final curtain, but he stayed for two more seasons primarily because nobody would pay almost £350,000 a week for an ageing midfielder whose form was iffy at best.
They couldn’t find a buyer in the winter transfer window last year.
After a defeat to Newcastle in December 2024, Casemiro did not play for a month.
United were just hoping for a buyer, but the chances were ‘near zero’ – a little bit like in the film Oppenheimer regarding the Earth’s atmosphere igniting.
It’s not great to have a player of that profile just on the wage bill for 18 more months.
United were saddled with him, but he has respected his shortcomings and realised there are things he can’t do anymore.
Michael Carrick recently decided to recall him and bench Ugarte for the derby-day 2-0 win where he was surprisingly steady.
Ultimately, he could be remembered for being another pricey mistake – but that feels excessive.
He contributed to one of the two successful seasons in the post-Ferguson era and two cup victories.
But the circumstances of his deal didn’t really reflect well on the club hierarchy.
If Jason Wilcox had signed off an extension for Casemiro, he should have been the next one out of the door.
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