Manchester United have released their list of retained players for the Premier League campaign, and news has come out about three individuals who will be departing Old Trafford this summer.
Tyrell Malacia
One individual has hardly been in the limelight since he set foot in the North-West.
Tyrell Malacia moved for a fee of £13 million from Feyenoord in the summer of 2022, and he was the first acquisition for the Red Devils in the Erik ten Hag reign. The Dutchman hoped his compatriot could be an adequate backup for Luke Shaw, but he struggled to even fulfil that role for the team.
He appeared 39 times for the side in all competitions during his debut campaign, but his last appearance, in a 2-1 win over Fulham, was his final outing for more than a calendar year.
The recovery from a knee surgery was a protracted process for the fullback, who stepped onto the field for the first time in 18 months against Arsenal in December 2024. Though Ruben Amorim attempted to integrate him back into the group, he was subsequently sent out on loan to PSV.
In the summer of 2025, he was placed on the club’s transfer list, but no buyers were forthcoming. Only three cameos as a substitute came his way across the last nine months, and the expiry of his four-year contract with the club concluded this chapter of his career as a Manchester United player.
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Casemiro
On the other hand, a hero’s welcome was afforded to Casemiro in his final bow at Old Trafford.
The Brazilian brought the best part of a decade of experience from Real Madrid to the midfield department in the summer of 2022, and his first season with the side was one to remember. He reached the FA Cup and Carabao Cup finals, earning the Alan Hardaker trophy for his role in a 2-0 triumph against Newcastle United that included the opening goal of the game at Wembley Stadium.
Reportedly, the midfielder told his agent he would ‘fix’ the Red Devils after their humbling 4-0 defeat to Brentford at the start of the season, and his impact as a world-class player could not be denied. But quality was never in question: the real challenge would be sustaining a setup to empower the then 31-year-old who had cost the club a sizeable fee of £60 million and up to £10 million more in add-ons.
It was a task that the club, not for the first time, failed to achieve. Ten Hag oversaw the worst finish in the team’s Premier League history, and Casemiro came under infamous scrutiny from Jamie Carragher, who said of the Brazilian: “Leave the football, before the football leaves you.”
Indeed, Amorim was reluctant to use the midfielder as one of the two pivots in his 3-4-3 system, and the veteran started only four of the first 20 Premier League fixtures with the Portuguese head coach in charge. But Casemiro battled his way back into the starting eleven, saving his best work for last.
The Brazilian was virtually an ever-present figure for Michael Carrick in the engine room, and his performances in ‘Big Six’ victories against Manchester City and Arsenal forced Carragher to retract his statement. A successful charge towards the top three was spearheaded by Bruno Fernandes, but the career-high nine goals of Casemiro across the campaign cannot be underestimated in this feat.
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Champions League football had been secured earlier in May, and he was allowed to make his final appearance for the side in their last home game of the season against Nottingham Forest. He will not give the fans the extra year of service they craved, but he made his last year one to befit his legacy.
Jadon Sancho
How Jadon Sancho will have wished that his career could have followed a similar trajectory.
The 25-year-old was arguably a more coveted player than Casemiro when he came to the club in the summer of 2021 from Borussia Dortmund. A primary target in the transfer market in 2020, he had dazzled with dribbling skills and smart decision making in the Bundesliga and Champions League.
He was purchased for a fee of £73 million on a five-year deal with the option of an additional year.
The transfer never looked like turning into money well spent for a side all too familiar with frivolously spending cash: Sancho scored five times in his debut campaign, and only two more the next year. What would make matters worse was a public fallout between the player and his manager.
Sancho snapped at the accusation that he was not performing at the right standard in training from ten Hag, claiming that he had been a “scapegoat for a long time” at the club. The Dutchman duly decided to freeze him out of the first team squad, and he returned to Dortmund on a loan deal in January 2024.
His destructive display against Paris Saint-Germain left back Nuno Mendes in the Champions League semi-final showed there was still something to believe in. But Sancho was distinctly into the journeyman phase of his career, and there would be no reconciliation with ten Hag over the summer.
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A second spell on loan followed with a return to London as he joined Chelsea for the 2024/25 season. This stint would be similarly frustrating. The Blues bailed on an obligation of a £20 million deal with £5 million in performance related add-ons, compensating Manchester United with a £5 million fine. Sancho was back to Old Trafford, and Ruben Amorim had no intent to call on his services.
Eventually, Aston Villa agreed to a deadline day loan deal for the attacker, whose wages were a significant stumbling block to alternative moves away from the club. The 25-year-old has picked up a Conference League and Europa League title for his troubles, but his reputation is also in tatters.
It is no surprise that Manchester United opted against triggering the extra year in Sancho’s contract, and he is continuing on the reclamation mission to make good on the talent he displayed as a teenager.