The only major team news is that Carrick confirmed the rumors that Casemiro has played his last game for the club. "It was kind of decided that last week would be his last game." He adds that he believes that that farewell went well.
Carrick has also hinted that he could use a couple of youngsters in the season's finale on Sunday. "I think we’ve got some really good young players that we want to try and take the next steps with really and give them the opportunity."
Brighton have a chance of European football so will take this game very seriously. United on the other hand, have nothing to play for but Carrick believes that his side have a responsibility to play their part in this game. He also wants to end the campaign off as strong as possible. "We're approaching the game as we would any other game."
In terms of building on the postive end to the season, the interim says that they have to keep moving forward. "Just keep evolving as much as we possibly can as a club.”
He reiterated the fact that from the start, he and his coaches along with the club tried to improve things for the longer term. Carrick believes that the squad has a good mixture of players from different age groups and stages of their careers. He praised their attacking efforts by saying that "we're really dangerous and we can score goals."
The ex-midfielder also congratulated Arsenal on their first title in 22 years. Carrick talks about how they've preogressively gotten better over many years to get to this point of lifting the Premier League, something that they now deserve to do. "So, they've been really consistent over a number of years now and the patience and the improvement that they've had, they've taken steps."
He continued by saying that United are striving to do the same as the Gunners and wants to get there "as soon as possible."
Final Thoughts
So the rumors were true. Unc Casemiro has played his final game for United 😢.
It is kind of sad because while yes it was a great send off at Old Trafford, we always knew there was one more game. But I also suppose it makes sense because there's no need for him to play and nor does he, Carlo Ancelotti and Brazil want to risk picking up a silly injury that might jeopardize his World Cup hopes.
The other news that might be a reason for him not playing is that according to Fabrizio Romano, Casemiro's move to Inter Miami is edging ever closer. This is a deal they will try to get done before the World Cup.
The positive - if you want to call it that - is that we get to see how shite we are without unc.
The few games he didn't play or on the occasions where he was substituted, United looked completely lost in the midfield. Casemiro understands that role so well having played there all his illustrious career. On top of that, he is such a goal threat.
I didn't mention this question about what the midfield will need now that Casemiro is gone because Carrick avoided it, but I'll answer and say that we need the BEST POSSIBLE FUCKING REPLACEMENT!
As we all know, Casemiro brings so much to the table so you're going to need one hell of a player to replace that. It's the number one priority for the transfer window and while several names have been mentioned, United have done fuck all to find someone who can take over from the Brazilian.
Again, we all know that we are hopeless without him and Brighton will give us another indication of that. I'm not sure why the club haven't taken the necessary steps to sign someone in that position because we've had glimpses throughout the season of what a mess we are whenever Casemiro is missing.
Carrick also hinted at youngsters. I think this is something that we'd all love to see and could also be a solution to the Casemiro problem, for one game at least.
Clearly, the manager doesn't fancy Ugarte as he has been using Mount in that role instead. But as he isn't a midfielder of any sorts, he has looked out of sorts which begs the question of why not try a youngster?
Brighton gives Carrick a great opportunity to do that because we got nothing to lose.
He could also try youngsters in other positions, like centre-back. Yoro and Heaven could be the future CB pairing yet we have hardly seen them. The manager has preferred to go with experience but in these matches where there's nothing riding on it, why not give the younger players a go?
Carrick hit the nail on the head when saying that given how Arsenal have grown and improved over many years to the point where they've now deserved to win the title, is a great example of what United can do in order to get back to the top.
Michael Carrick confirms Casemiro will not feature in Man Utd's final game of the season against Brighton | Creator: Carl Recine | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2026 Getty Images via Goal