As recently as the autumn of 2024, West Ham United target Marc Casado saw an £86 million release clause inserted into his Barcelona contract on the back of dazzling assists in successive matches against Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Now, with West Ham United in the frame for the La Masia graduate, the fact that he is even being mentioned in the same sentence as Graham Potter’s side may suggest that something has gone badly wrong over the last nine months or so.
But perhaps not.
Perhaps, his presumed and far-from-desired departure – Casado would ideally like to stick around – can be put down to circumstance. Marc Casado became a crucial cog in Hansi Flick’s midfield during the injury-enforced absences of Frenkie de Jong and Gavi at the beginning of 2024/25.
At the beginning of 2025/26, with De Jong and Gavi available again alongside the masterful Pedri, last year’s good fortune has turned on its head.
According to The Guardian, while West Ham still hope to secure Mateus Fernandes after Southampton rejected an opening £30 million offer last week, a bid has also now been submitted for Barcelona’s number 17.
Marc Casado during Real Madrid v FC Barcelona - LaLiga EA Sports
Photo by Maria Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Getty Images
What Hansi Flick and Sergio Busquets said about West Ham United target Marc Casado
Casado would not be the first player to exit the Camp Nou after finding regular minutes hard to come by in a star-studded team.
The likes of Lucas Digne, Cesc Fabregas, Junior Firpo, Marc Cucurella and most memorably Yaya Toure enjoyed successful spells in English football having struggled to escape the fringes of the Camp Nou.
If Casado can scratch even the surface of Toure’s impact – Sport claims that Barcelona are willing to sell for £25 million – then the two-time Spain international would immediately become one of West Ham’s best value-for-money signings in recent memory.
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His talent certainly isn’t in question.
“Marc Casado, what an amazing player!,” Barcelona coach Hansi Flick beamed when watching the youngster effortlessly fill the boots of a crocked De Jong in 2024.
“If you saw him play now, if you knew where he came from, how he improved… he’s a proper La Masia product”.
Marc Casado has been likened to Sergio Busquets by many – and we will come onto the World Cup and Champions League winner soon enough – but the creative vision he displayed against Real Madrid and Barcelona was straight out of the Pedri or Andres Iniesta playbook.
As Barca ripped their bitter rivals apart in a display of unfiltered ‘Flicka-Taka’ brilliance in October, Casado sparked that 4-0 trouncing into life with a slide-rule pass which put Robert Lewandowski one-on-one and took out five Real players in one touch.
In that same, spectacular week, Casado’s booming crossfield ball set the ball rolling for one of Raphinha’s three hat-trick goals in a 4-1 obliteration of Bayern Munich.
“He has surprised us a lot,” Busquets, one third of arguably football’s greatest ever midfield triumvirate, would tell Cadena Cope of his prospective protege. “I actually knew him for a long time, because he has been in the reserve team for many years and came to many training sessions.
“He is a very good player. But the level he is showing is superlative; he gives assists, he doesn’t lose the ball, he always chooses well.”
Casado could be Graham Potter’s ideal number six at West Ham
The Guardian reports that Graham Potter ideally wants two midfielders through the door before the window closes. A dynamic, mobile number eight and a string-pulling six.
Mateus Fernandes certainly fits the number eight bill. Southampton’s prancing Portuguese ran the show during April’s 1-1 draw at the London Stadium, demonstrating a turn of pace and a purpose missing in Potter’s engine room.
Casado, meanwhile, feels like a tailor-made deep-lying playmaker capable of bringing a youthful mobility Guido Rodriguez and James Ward-Prowse can only dream of alongside a passing range far beyond Edson Alvarez’s capabilities.
“Marc plays like a veteran” Spain coach Luigi de la Fuente said after fast-tracking Casado’s international debut. “I never cease to be amazed by his maturity when I see him play with that confidence, that security and that control of the situation.”
There are few better positioned to pass judgement on a young pass-master with his roots set deep into Barcelona soil, meanwhile, than one Xavi Hernandez.
Casado was still a teenager when Xavi returned to take charge of his beloved Blaugrana. But, handing him his senior debut three years ago on the Champions League stage no less, it was not only Casado’s raw talent which caught the eye but also the Barcelona DNA making up his genes.
“Marc is a versatile player and he has soul,” Xavi said. “He competes well. Wherever he plays, he’s going to perform for you. He is a very positive character for the group and this is very good for the coach.
“He is a footballer that I like.”