Four reasons Man Utd should sell ‘essential’ star in January as he emerges as top Saudi target

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Manchester United could see Saudi Arabian interest arrive for Casemiro as early as January, here are four reasons they should sell.

Casemiro has slowly dropped in favour at Manchester United, with little other than a few goals to shout about this season.

Easily overrun and poor on the ball, Casemiro has likely seen his time as a regular starter begin to end. This hasn’t been benefited by the fact he is set to be out through injury until after Christmas as confirmed by Erik ten Hag in his Champions League press conference, quoted by MEN.

The injury led fans to also call for Casemiro to be sold as they remain keen on getting a decent fee for him.

Now he has been mentioned as a top target for Saudi Pro League sides in 2024, with offers to be expected as early as January according to 90min’s Talking Transfers podcast.

Here are four reasons Manchester United should consider taking the Saudi sides up on an offer.

Ratcliffe isn’t a fan

Assuming by the time January rolls around we have some clarity on the takeover, Sir Jim Ratcliffe won’t be keen on Casemiro remaining at the club.

It was reported by the Guardian that Ratcliffe used the Casemiro deal as an example of bad business done by United upon a visit to Carrington earlier this year.

If he believes that before taking control, it is safe to assume he wouldn’t be turning down a likely big-money bid for the Brazilian.

Casemiro is 31 years old

Casemiro’s best days are behind him. A fact we knew when we signed him but since the beginning of this season he has looked like everything has caught up with him.

Given his struggles to stay fit and when played is often below par, Casemiro would probably welcome the move to Saudi Arabia himself.

At 31 years old, he looks to have lost his legs and unfortunately, so much of his game is physicality reliant, which makes this a sore miss.

Casemiro doesn’t suit the style of football

Casemiro’s passing and decision-making when we are looking to transition just aren’t good enough. It was evident when we bought him, and even clearer now that he just can’t keep up with play.

Erik ten Hag needs a defensive midfielder who can pick the ball up and find the bombed forward Marcus Rashford or Rasmus Hojlund. Instead with our current number six, we are limited to either inaccurate or short passes.

Selling Casemiro would likely see a fee brought in which allows a younger player to be brought in, someone like Joao Neves who fits Ten Hag to a T.

We won’t get a better offer

The final reason we need to take any offer that comes our way from Saudi Arabia this winter or in the summer is that we won’t ever get a chance this good to recoup some of the huge fee we spent.

Saudi clubs are likely to pay well over the market value of Casemiro which stands at £34.7m according to CIES. Therefore a large portion of the £70m outlay could be recouped.

This is money which then could be used in a midfield rebuild to fix the catastrophe which has been our midfield this season.