Inter Miami is the preferred destination for Brazil international midfielder Casemiro and the MLS club is closing in on a deal with the Manchester United veteran, sources briefed on the situation tell The Athletic.
Casemiro has announced he is departing Manchester United this summer when his contract expires. He wants to play for Inter Miami and ultimately a deal is expected to be reached, sources add.
That Miami and Casemiro are even discussing a deal, however, runs afoul of MLS rules.
The LA Galaxy hold the priority right to negotiate with Casemiro, a mechanism called “discovery rights,” and were hoping to convince him to come to Los Angeles. Sources indicate the Galaxy and Casemiro or his representatives had numerous conversations, including multiple contract offers by the Galaxy. The discovery rules are meant to avoid these very scenarios in which multiple MLS clubs are negotiating against each other.
Typically, these sorts of discovery right disputes are settled by one team compensating the other in a trade for the discovery rights. Two summers ago, a similar situation unfolded with Marco Reus. He ultimately signed for the Galaxy, but Charlotte FC had his rights and was trying to sign him, even offering more money than the Galaxy were. Reus still chose the Galaxy, who paid Charlotte $400,000 in General Allocation Money for those rights.
The discovery rights issue for Casemiro has not yet been resolved.
Miami does not have an open designated player slot to sign Casemiro, meaning his contract will be under $2 million for this season at least, unless one of the team’s three DPs depart this summer (Lionel Messi, Rodrigo De Paul, German Berterame). The Galaxy also do not have an open DP spot.
The team would likely structure the deal with a non-guaranteed option that would elevate Casemiro to DP status when it has the roster space. Miami set a precedent for this deal when it signed Jordi Alba to a Targeted Allocation Money deal in 2023. Alba eventually became a DP, then signed a new contract that added an extra guaranteed year at a DP salary before he retired.
Casemiro, 34, had a renaissance season for Manchester United, scoring nine goals while starting 33 matches. He was pivotal to the team securing Champions League football for next season, as the club will finish third in the league.
Casemiro will also be a key player for Brazil at the World Cup this summer, named to Carlo Ancelotti’s final squad this week.
Casemiro joined Manchester United in the summer of 2022 from Real Madrid, where he had an iconic run of winning the Champions League five times (2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022) and three league titles.
He has 84 caps for Brazil.
Meanwhile, Miami, the reigning MLS Cup champion, has 28 points after 14 matches this season — good for fourth-most in the league — but has endured a tumultuous title defense thus far. Head coach Javier Mascherano departed the club earlier this season, and Guillermo Hoyos took over as interim head coach. The club was also eliminated from the Concacaf Champions Cup — the regional competition that was its stated ambition for the season — in the round of 16 by Nashville SC.
MLS will take a six-week break for the World Cup after this weekend’s fixtures. Miami will head into that break after hosting the Philadelphia Union at Nu Stadium Sunday night.
Mario Cortegana contributed reporting to this story.