It'll take more than new chief executive to end the culture of waste in Man Utd
When Brazilian midfield star Casemiro was leaving Real Madrid for Manchester United in the summer of 2022, he told a teammate he couldn’t believe how much he was being paid. A little over a season and a half later, United are still counting the cost of that decision.
Casemiro may well leave United over the next week or so and Saudi Arabia could be the destination. No surprise there. Who else is going to take a player who, at the age of 32, is earning north of £300,000 a week and still has two and a half years left on his contract?
Even by modern standards, the numbers around the Casemiro deal are extraordinary. A £70million transfer over four years on £1.2million a month. That is a total outlay of almost £150million.
In return, United got a good season out of the South American last time round. He gave Erik ten Hag’s midfield some balance, security and intelligence. He scored a goal in a Carabao Cup final win and helped United back into the Champions League positions.
Subsequently, though, he has found the physical demands of the Premier League too much. He has barely played due to injury this season and as a result has become a symbol of the short-term, over-priced, back of a fag packet transfer policy United must now leave behind under Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Clubs have always made mistakes in the transfer market, but few have recently done it as spectacularly and as extravagantly as United.
Once upon a time — when life was simpler in the top division — it was possible to pay over the odds for a short-term lift. Back when there were no Profit and Sustainability Rules in the
Premier League, clubs could take a financial hit on a player as long as it took them towards where they needed to go.
This is no longer the case. So when
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