Casemiro’s Manchester United career has been in jeopardy more than once since he joined the team in 2022. After the Brazilian midfielder’s woeful performance in a 4-0 thumping by Crystal Palace in May 2024, pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher insisted time had run out for him. He urged Casemiro to finish the season and then seek a move to MLS or Saudi Arabia.
“I always remember the saying: ‘Leave the football before the football leaves you,'” Carragher said in a brutal takedown. “The football has left him. At this top level, he needs to call it a day and move.”
Three weeks later, Casemiro was named on the bench for the FA Cup final against Manchester City. Before kickoff, however, he told manager Erik ten Hag he wasn’t 100% fit and did not want to be part of the squad. After the shock 2-1 win, he only briefly attended the postmatch celebrations before quickly jetting off on holiday with his family.
It was a surprise he stayed through the summer transfer window in 2024, but it wasn’t long before Casemiro faced another setback. With United 2-0 down at home to Liverpool in the third game of the 2024-25 season, he was substituted at halftime by Ten Hag and replaced with youngster Toby Collyer, who made his first Premier League appearance. Casemiro would only start another two league games before Ten Hag was sacked.
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Ruben Amorim, Ten Hag’s replacement, wasn’t immediately convinced of Casemiro’s value either. During the Brazilian’s long spell out of the team in December and January, the Portuguese coach questioned whether he could still cope with the demands of England’s top flight. “We know that Casemiro nowadays has other qualities,” said Amorim in January. “He’s intelligent, understands the game and knows where the ball is going to be. But, we are in a league where there is a big intensity difference. Therefore I feel our team needs players with high intensity and sometimes we don’t have them.”
“We all know Casemiro’s qualities and everything he has won, so I have nothing to add to that. It’s just a selection choice.”
Nearly 11 months have passed since Casemiro appeared to be written off by Amorim. Yet now, not only is he back in the United team, but he’s being held up as an example to the rest of the squad of what can happen with the right determination and dedication.
With Kobbie Mainoo and Joshua Zirkzee not getting game time and being linked with moves away, it’s important for Amorim to be able to point to a player who has successfully come back from the brink.
“I showed them that Casemiro was not part of the starting XI. He was behind, and then he fought,” Amorim said earlier this month. “He won the place, and if you win the place, you will be playing. So I think that helped them to understand that I’m trying to be fair, and they are part of something very special that is very important to us.”
Casemiro has been vital to United’s upturn in form this season. Of the 20 goals conceded by Amorim’s team in all competitions, the 33-year-old midfielder has been off the field for 15 of them. Twice in the last three games, against Brighton (a 4-2 win) and Tottenham (a 2-2 draw), United have kept a clean sheet up until the point he was substituted, before going on to concede two goals. With Mainoo out of favor and Manuel Ugarte struggling to keep up with the Premier League’s pace whenever he comes off the bench, Amorim is having to carefully monitor the minutes in Casemiro’s legs.
“I think he gives a lot of experience, he’s an example for everyone,” said the United boss after the 4-2 win over Brighton.
“He’s so important for us. He runs a lot, he has to press so high and then return and he’s doing that. So I’m really pleased with him and the other guys need to look at Casemiro. “We understand that football can change really fast. You just need to work for me if you are the best one or I think you are the best one to play the game. You are going to play the game if you do the right things. In the beginning he was behind every midfielder, even Toby [Collyer]. But he fought and he worked and now he’s back in the national team.”
Casemiro’s return to the Brazil national team — who play Senegal at the Emirates Stadium in London on Saturday — has been helped by the appointment of his former Real Madrid boss, Carlo Ancelotti, as head coach. While the relationship between Casemiro and Amorim is said to be professional without being overly warm, the bond between Casemiro and Ancelotti is so strong that the Italian cried when he was told about Casemiro’s £60 million transfer to United in August 2022. The pair won the Champions League together three times and when Ancelotti named his first Brazil squad in May, Casemiro was immediately recalled despite not playing for his country in nearly 20 months.
“In my opinion, he is a great player,” Ancelotti said at the time. “I was lucky to be with him [at Real Madrid] and I think the national team needs this type of player who has charisma, personality, talent. Brazil has always had a lot of talent. In modern soccer, you have to add attitude, commitment, sacrifice, and Casemiro has that.”
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It’s almost certain that Casemiro will be part of the Brazil squad taking the field at next summer’s World Cup, but what happens beyond that is still up in the air.
Casemiro’s contract with United is due to expire in June. Not so long ago, it was seen as a formality that he would leave Old Trafford on a free transfer, but he has been so good that the door’s been left open for him to stay if he agrees to a significant pay cut. He’s one of the highest-paid players, and United are keen to continue taking steps to reduce their wage bill following the departure of other high-earners such as David De Gea, Raphaël Varane and Marcus Rashford.
“We don’t know what is going to happen,” Amorim said of Casemiro’s contract situation. “My goal is to continue to count with Casemiro. I don’t know what is going to happen. Let’s focus on this season. I’m really happy with Casemiro, he is really important.”
Casemiro is settled in Manchester and while nothing has been ruled out, those closest to him see it as unlikely that he will stay. If he leaves, his priority would be to consider offers from Europe. After that, he would look at options in Major League Soccer or Saudi Arabia — a return to Brazil would be a last resort. His future at United might depend on whether they decide to sign one midfielder or two next summer, and whether Mainoo and/or Ugarte stay.
Whatever happens, Casemiro, who turns 34 in February, wants to keep playing. “I’ve started playing again, playing well,” Casemiro told ESPN. “You have to keep going with focus and work. We [United] have to try to maintain the rhythm, keep the focus. We are in a good dynamic, a good moment, but the Premier League is very difficult, every game is a battle.”
In Casemiro, Amorim has found a player he can count on in the trenches. His influence has grown to the point where there are legitimate questions about how well the team functions when he’s not on the pitch.
It wasn’t long ago that Casemiro’s career at the highest level looked dead and buried. Now he’s the one helping keep United alive.
