Casemiro has confirmed he will leave Man Utd at the end of the season and his departure will create a void off the pitch as well as on it.
Casemiro has had one of the most eventful United careers of recent times(Image: )
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It will be two years in May since Casemiro was told to leave the football before the football leaves him. One of the greats of the modern game had just suffered a night of humiliation in South London. He had become a meme, dumped on his backside by Michael Olise and folded in two by Daniel Munoz.
Give it three more games and call it quits, Jamie Carragher told him. Head to the MLS or the Saudi Pro League, where you won't be found out. Fortunately for Manchester United, Casemiro didn't listen to the advice.
He was never going to leave Manchester United before Manchester United left him. He was paid too much for that. He probably couldn't believe his luck when he was offered a four-year contract on a salary of around £350,000-a-week as a 30-year-old in 2022. It was too good to turn down and too good to walk away from when the going got tough.
But he also cared too much. He never rested on his laurels. His passion, attitude and character were exemplary, and it is those traits as much as anything that have endeared him to United's matchgoing supporters.
There were times when the club's best-paid player was below Toby Collyer in the pecking order, but a five-time Champions League winner with one of the most glittering CVs in the game never resorted to phoning it in. He always resolved to keep going and to bounce back, no matter how tough things got.
The fact that he will leave the club as a fixture in the first team is evidence of that. He won his place back through hard work, and on Saturday he was the outstanding player on the pitch in a Manchester derby. His celebrations were enthusiastic, leaping on Michael Carrick's back at one stage after being subbed and embracing with Lisandro Martinez after running onto the pitch as they celebrated Mason Mount's goal before it was disallowed.
Manchester United's Casemiro reacts following the Premier League match against Crystal Palace
Casemiro endured a difficult night at Crystal Palace in May 2024(Image: Zac Goodwin/PA Wire)
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He is a Brazilian import who won it all at Real Madrid, but he took to United as if he were a born-and-bred Mancunian. In an era when plenty of players find it difficult in Old Trafford's harsh glare, Casemiro was at home immediately. He "massively cares" about the club, as one source put it.
There are plenty of positives around Casemiro, on and off the pitch. But it's hard to escape the astronomical cost associated with his time at Old Trafford. Signed from Real Madrid for an initial £60million in 2022 on that enormous salary, he came in during Erik ten Hag's first summer when the Dutchman had identified he had taken over a squad lacking character and personality.
Casemiro had both. After watching his potential new employers lose 2-1 to Brighton and then 4-0 at Brentford in Ten Hag's first two games, he would have been forgiven for backing out. Instead, he picked up the phone to football director John Murtough after the second of those defeats and told him he still wanted to come and that he would fix it.
For a while, he did. His standards were an example to everyone else in the squad. Described as an "unbelievable professional", he was always first in the gym for extra prep work and was respectful to everyone working at Carrington and Old Trafford.
One of Casemiro's senior teammates once told of the "aura" he carried in the dressing room. He wasn't a chest-beating leader but when he spoke, you listened. He didn't walk into the dressing room and lay his medals on the table, but he commanded instant respect.
Casemiro and Manchester United fans
United fans quickly took a shine to Casemiro(Image: )
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Players were immediately impressed by his refusal to shirk a challenge, and his desire to stick up for teammates on the pitch helped unite a group that had been falling apart the previous season. His impact was immediate. United looked like they had found something under Ten Hag, and Casemiro was immense, never more so than in the Carabao Cup final in February 2023, when he celebrated like it was his first Champions League title.
It's two Wembley trips that help understand Casemiro's time at the club. As good as he was in his first year, it came apart when he was exposed by Ten Hag's attempts to inject a more attacking approach, when games turned into basketball matches and the midfield was a barely patrolled zone.
It reached a nadir that night at Crystal Palace, and a few weeks later, Casemiro was absent when United won the FA Cup against Manchester City. Ten Hag had said he wasn't fully fit going into the game, but named him on the bench, and he was on the official teamsheet. However, he then dropped out before United confirmed the team on social media, citing a tight hamstring in the dressing room.
United pulled off a famous victory, but when Casemiro then left the after-party early, it looked like his days at the club were over. Had he not been on so much money, they would have been. He was on the market that summer, but there were no takers.
That is why, despite Casemiro's many positives, it is impossible to ignore the financial aspect. When Sir Jim Ratcliffe was holding meetings ahead of his investment in the club, he cited the signing of the Brazilian as an example of United's transfer market waste, and that was in his first season when he was the apple of Old Trafford's eye.
Casemiro and Diogo Dalot
Casemiro celebrates a derby day goal on Saturday(Image: )
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That transfer fee paid to Real could have hit £70 million with add-ons, while his wages varied depending on whether United were in the Champions League. But it's fair to say the cost of four years of Casemiro is somewhere between £120million to £130million. You can kind of see Ratcliffe's point.
But if United had more players of Casemiro's character and personality, with his standards and professionalism, then they might well be in a better place.
He will almost certainly be in the starting XI at Arsenal on Sunday as he begins a farewell tour. You can also guarantee he will get a rapturous reception from the away end. He is a player who just got it at United and that endeared him to the supporters from the off.
By the time he leaves, he will have clocked up around 160 games, but his Old Trafford career has been more eventful than most. The highs were high, but the lows were despairing. He will be missed by fans and teammates alike.
He won't be missed on the balance sheet, but then United haven't tried to replace him yet.