I'm tired of this. I feel that we do this far too often as a club in that we end up keeping players for longer than we should simply because they're doing okay at the moment and they are likeable guys.
That's NOT how we should be running a football club! Part of running it is knowing when to let players go even when they and most of the fan base want them to stay.
This news about Casemiro potentially staying is coming from Alex Crook and he says that "Ruben Amorim is open to the idea of keeping Casemiro but will likely have to take a pay cut as he is currently one of United’s top earners, getting in excess of £300,000-a-week" [The United Stand].
I don't know whether he will want this reduced wage either. At 33, he is too old now. In a year's time, 34 is certainly too old. I find him to be inconsistent as it's only recently that we've seen him play well.
I like Casemiro. You like Casemiro. We all like Casemiro. At the moment, he is the main man as he is performing superbly and we can see just how important he is whenever he's not there because we completely fall apart.
For me, he's a player who can 'do a job' and right now, the job he's doing is pretty darn good. But if we're being completely honest, he ain't good enough for where we want to be.
If you look at the quality of other CDMs in the league (Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo who for me, is the best in that position), Casemiro is nowhere near that level. He's no longer the quality of prime Casemiro.
This drop off was always going to happen with age but to go from that first season to what we've seen since, is quite the fall off. That first campaign really was something else so much so that Casemiro himself said it was his best season ever as a footballer:
"I think Old Trafford saw the best version of Casemiro in my first year" - Casemiro via Tribuna.
I agree with that because it is the best version I've ever seen of the Brazilian. He was not just that destroyer of a CDM but one who could control the game, dictate the play, still break up oppositions and as we see today, is a threat in attack.
Give me that version and then we can talk.
I know there's been a resurgence this campaign and also towards the latter stages of last season, but this isn't the quality we need if we want to get to the level of regular Champions League qualification and challenging or even winning the title.
When looking at other clubs in a similar situation with players of this ilk, they don't waste any time.
City are the best example. KDB was one of the best midfielders in PL history and a legend of their club. He is around the age of Casemiro (34) and was still producing regular top performances. He was sold to Napoli this season. Manuel Akanji was another who was let go to Inter on deadline day despite being one of their stalwart defenders. Ikay Gundogan and long-serving goalkeeper Ederson were both sold as well.
So if we truly want to get to that level, we're going to have to act like those clubs.
When it comes to our players, I want them to be so good that we wouldn't swap them for anyone. Mbeumo and De Ligt are the two that I think of. They are arguably the two best in their positions at the moment and I wouldn't take any player over them.
Many would probably take the aforementioned Rice or Caicedo over Casemiro or more realistically when it comes to United, would you keep the Brazilian if it meant we couldn't get Adam Wharton, Elliot Anderson or Angelo Stiller?
These are all highly-rated and sort after young midfielders who are perfect for this team and Amorim's system not to mention that they could be at United for years to come. You saw how Anderson ran the show against Casemiro AND Bruno in that 2-2 draw with Forest.
That's what we need.
I feel that if we keep these type of players and I want to include Maguire, Shaw, Dalot and even Bruno in this, we won't move forward and we won't be the club we want to be.
It is of course really difficult to let these players go because of who they are but that seems to be the sole reason to keep them: they're top guys. Looking at the footballer by themselves, they are not the quality we require.
People act as if those who don't want to extend Casemiro's deal (me) want him gone tomorrow. For the rest of the season if, and that is a big if, he can continue in this manner, I'm fine with him staying. Beyond that, he needs to go.
I know this isn't a popular topic to discuss because Casemiro is doing a good job and is well-liked by all but if you could remove that sentimentality for this player and just think what we need, would you still believe it's a good idea to keep him?
Ruben Amorim is open to keeping Casemiro for a further year | Creator: Jan Kruger | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2025 Getty Images via Goal