Manchester United will lose Casemiro when his contract expires. After four years we ask – was it good business?
Debate has raged over Manchester United’s move for Casemiro ever since he joined the club in August 2022.
At the time, the prospect of signing Casemiro felt impossible. The Brazilian had just led Real Madrid to another Champions League title, his fifth. United had just struck out with an embarrassingly public pursuit of Frenkie de Jong.
It felt like a deal United had rushed into. Casemiro was a totally different style of player to De Jong, for one. And then there was the financial aspect. United paid Real Madrid a fee of £60 million, as well as committing £350,000 per week in wages to the Brazilian.
United agreed a four-year deal, meaning Casemiro would still be earning high wages at the age of 34.
It felt like United had learned nothing from previous deals, with the worst case outcome being an even more expensive repeat of the Bastian Schweinsteiger saga.
Now, four years on, we feel that even if United’s deal was unwise – it has worked out pretty well.
Casemiro celebrates against Aston Villa
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Gary Neville says Man Utd’s combined fee and wages spend on Casemiro was bad business – Do you agree?
He is upset there is no resale value and he will leave for free
Casemiro / Neville
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United’s move was slammed
Just this past month, former United star Gary Neville categorised the move for Casemiro as bad business, because the midfielder had no resale value to the club.
Using an extravagant figure to combine Casemiro’s wages and transfer fee, Neville told SkySports: “If you’re spending £140m on a midfield player over four years, you’d expect that there’d be some sort of residual value at the end of it,.
“You wouldn’t be expecting that he would be running his career down. It’s not a deal they would do now.
“You can’t say it’s been a great investment at £140m, but that’s not Casemiro’s fault.”
United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is also reported to have cited the Casemiro deal as bad business due to the combined factors of his age and salary. The Guardian reported in 2023 that Ratcliffe used Casemiro as an example of the transfer policy he wanted to shake up.
Neville is not wrong that the 2022 Casemiro deal is not a move United would do in 2026.
I wouldn’t encourage the club to try and sign an ageing midfielder and pay him big money to fill the gap Casemiro vacates.
But you know what? I’m glad United did spend the money on Casemiro.
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Casemiro seasons
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I’m happy United spent the money on Casemiro
The move went against all logic, but it is testament to Casemiro’s quality, dedication and motivation that he is still a key player for the club, late into the fourth year of his contract.
After a disappointing second season, United feared the worst for Casemiro’s final two years at the club. He has turned it around completely, to the point that fans are actually chanting for him to stay.
During his four years at United, Casemiro has helped to deliver two trophies. He was integral to winning the Carabao Cup in 2023. And while he did not play in the 2024 FA Cup Final, he played a key role to get there, including scoring an injury-time winner away at Nottingham Forest.
Casemiro is also playing a key role in delivering Champions League football for Manchester United for the second time in four seasons. Considering how inconsistent United have been in the entire post-Ferguson era, that’s not a bad success rate.
It would be wrong to dress the past four years up as a total success, it hasn’t been. But can you imagine how bad it would have been without Casemiro?
United likely go trophyless during that period. Erik ten Hag probably would have been fired in his first season. Before Casemiro signed, United had just been hammered 4-0 away to Brentford.
Casemiro has given everything to United over the past four years, playing more than 150 games with a win rate above 50 per cent.
The deal to sign him was unorthodox, and it spoke to the desperate transfer dealings being done at the time.
United agreed far worse deals in this era. Mason Mount, Andre Onana, Antony, Jadon Sancho, Rasmus Hojlund were signed between 2021 and 2023 for a combined £300+ million and none of them have met expectations.
Despite arriving with a big reputation, Casemiro has actually exceeded realistic expectations.
I would much rather that he continued to complete his contract than we cashed in on him to the Saudi Pro League midway through it. I can’t get mad about one player United spent money on who actually produced good, committed performances.
The only way to get Casemiro from Real Madrid was to pay him a big salary to match. It was a gamble from United, and in this particular case it paid off. That’s probably more a case of ‘luck’ than ‘good process’, but the end result is one I can live with.
I’ll be producing a list of Manchester United’s worst contracts this week, and Casemiro won’t be on it.
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