Rio Ferdinand’s verdict on Casemiro says it all after the Manchester United and Brazil midfielder has continued to play a key first-team role at Old Trafford.
Casemiro is in the final six months of his current Manchester United contract and the 33-year-old Brazilian is widely tipped to leave Old Trafford this summer.
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Man Utd’s contract with Casemiro does include an automatic extension clause if the Brazil international starts 35 matches across all competitions this season.
However, it is now unlikely that the former Real Madrid star would pull off the aforementioned feat before the end of the 2025-26 Premier League campaign.
Casemiro is free to speak with clubs outside of England in January and sign a pre-contract agreement ahead of a potential summer transfer move away.
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty ImagesRio Ferdinand drops a major swipe on Jamie Carragher after the pundit’s criticism of Casemiro
Casemiro rediscovered his form after Ruben Amorim arrived at Old Trafford in 2024 and climbed back into the starting XI of the Manchester United first-team squad.
The Man Utd midfielder has since been brought back into the Brazil set-up after the appointment of former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti last summer.
Rio Ferdinand was critical of the criticism that pundit Jamie Carragher applied to Casemiro in the past and feels the Liverpool legend’s statement has aged poorly.
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Speaking on Rio Ferdinand Presents, he said: “Has football left Casemiro? Is it gone? I dunno, is it back?
“That statement looks worse and worse all the time, because even this season, he’s done well most of the time,” he said on his podcast.
“I always think this when you look at players in teams and they’re not doing well, it’s more than just that they’re not good enough.
“There are sometimes big reasons as to team structure and shape of the team, and maybe the relationship with the manager, that isn’t enabling them to perform.
“It isn’t just about a basic – he isn’t good enough, you’ve got to get rid of him – you’ve got to look into these things a bit more at times.”
What exactly did Jamie Carragher say about Man Utd midfielder Casemiro amid Rio Ferdinand’s remarks?
Jamie Carragher pulled no punches towards Casemiro after he dropped a scathing assessment of the 33-year-old Brazilian midfielder’s career in the top-flight.
The Sky Sports pundit had infamously suggested that the football ‘might have left’ Casemiro after the United star’s performance against Crystal Palace in 2024.
“I think Casemiro, deadly serious, should know himself tonight that he should only have another three games left at the top level,” Carragher told Sky Sports at the time, as per the Metro.
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“The next two league games and the cup final, then he should be thinking, ‘I need to go to MLS or Saudi.’
“His agent or people around him need to tell him this has to stop because we are watching one of the greats of the modern time[s], Champions Leagues, playing for Brazil, playing for Real Madrid.
“But I always remember the saying, ‘Leave the football before the football leaves you.’
“The football has left him. At this top level, he needs to call it a day at this level of football and move.”
Casemiro has netted four times and registered one assist in 21 matches across all competitions for Man Utd in the 2025-26 campaign at Old Trafford.
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