Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr are reportedly having reservations about signing Manchester United midfielder Casemiro.
The Brazilian is one of the most respected and decorated midfielders of his generation and owns an impressive five Champions League winners’ medals at Real Madrid.
Although he barely reached the same level of importance, the trophies continued to roll in as he won the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup during his two years at Manchester.
On a personal level, however, this season was nothing short of a disaster.
He was often caught out of position in midfield and looked completely lost as the frenetic pace of the Premier League overwhelmed him at times.
Moreover, he has fallen victim to Erik ten Hag’s strange decision to tear up last year’s playbook and opt for a more transition-based, chaotic brand of football, which does the Brazilian no favors with his lack of mobility.
A shift to centre-back also hardly helped the situation, with numerous pundits highlighting how much he has struggled in the temporary role.
There was controversy as Casemiro was not part of the starting line-up in the final and reportedly told Ten Hag that he did not want to play a role in the crucial match against Manchester City.
All of the above, plus his huge wages, have led to United wanting to offload the player this summer. The most common rumors link him with a move to Saudi Arabia, with the midfielder reportedly accepting that his future lies in the Middle East.
However, according to goal.com, Cristiano Ronaldo’s side Al Nassr have reservations about a deal.
The website states that “the marriage between Casemiro and Manchester United appears to be coming to an end.”
It has been reported that “Al Nassr would be one of those interested clubs”, but the club does have concerns about a deal.
Goal claims that “there is some skepticism at Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Castro’s club, both due to Casemiro’s recent form and the 32-year-old midfielder’s advancing age. United estimate that they can negotiate him for a fee of almost €35 million, but the amount would hardly be agreeable with the Saudi club.”
It has previously been reported here that Al Nassr would be willing to offer €40m for the midfield general, but the latest reports seem to indicate that United will not be so lucky.
“In addition, Al Nassr understands that they already have Croatian Marcelo Brozović as their first option for the position and may consider directing spending to other areas of the pitch this window.”
Interestingly, the report also claims that Casemiro’s future is not tied to Ten Hag’s and that he is “not part of the new management’s plans”, whoever is in the hotseat next year.
What is clear is that the Brazilian’s future must be sorted out quickly so that United can use all the money saved from his wages to improve the numerous areas of the pitch that need reinforcement so that the fans can watch the team see that they saw at Wembley. Saturday more consistently throughout next season.
