Casemiro to Leave Manchester United After 9-Goal Season
Casemiro will leave Manchester United at the end of the current campaign, closing a season that pulled him back into the team and back into the conversation. The 34-year-old midfielder has responded with nine goals, two assists and 2,417 minutes in 32 appearances, a sharp rebound after a difficult spell earlier in the year.
Casemiro and Old Trafford
Manchester United announced in January that he would depart at season’s end, and that call has not changed even as his form improved. He played 31 starts, finished 13 games and ended up completing seven of the past nine, a run that restored him to first-team prominence after he had been left out of five league matches in January 2025 against Liverpool, Arsenal, Southampton, Brighton and Fulham.
That turnaround is the twist in the story. Ruben Amorim handed him league starts at Tottenham in February and away to Everton, then kept him in the starting XI for both legs of the Europa League last-16 win over Real Sociedad, both legs of the quarter-final victory against Lyon, the semi-final defeat of Athletic Bilbao and the final loss to Tottenham.
Amorim's Casemiro call
Amorim said, “I’m learning how to use players like Casemiro” and added, “In the beginning he was behind every midfielder, even Toby [Collyer], but he fought and he worked, and now he is back in the national team.” Those minutes mattered because they came after Sir Jim Ratcliffe had cited Casemiro as an example of questionable recruitment and after Manchester United were open to selling him while he was two seasons into a four-year contract and earning close to £365,000 a week.
Jamie Carragher was one of the loudest skeptics. After Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace in May 2024, he said, “Leave the football before the football leaves you” and added, “Casemiro should know tonight that he should only have another three games left at the top level.” He reversed that view in February, saying, “It is now fair to say the football has not left him, considering what he’s producing this season in the Premier League.”
Brazil and the final months
The season has already changed the tone around him. Supporters have pleaded with him to stay, and he is again a midfield first-choice for Brazil in the buildup to a World Cup, which gives the final weeks of his United spell a different edge from the one many expected when January brought the club’s decision to move him on.
For United, the ending is set even if the form line improved. For Casemiro, the exit comes after 9 goals, 2 assists and a return to the XI that briefly made him look like a player the club had been ready to move on from too soon.
