Casemiro will leave Manchester United when his contract expires at the end of the season.
The 33-year-old does have a one-year extension option in his contract but the club will not be activating it.
The Athletic reported in January that the one-year extension clause in the contract could also be triggered if he started a certain number of games — believed to be 35 — for United in the 2025-26 season. However, after United’s early exits from both domestic cup competitions, Casemiro would likely have to start all of the club’s remaining 16 Premier League matches.
The Brazil international joined United from Real Madrid in a deal that has cost United at least £60million (now $80.9m) in the summer of 2022. His salary has been £15m per year for the three seasons (including the current one) he has been at United when the club have not been in the Champions League, and £18m in the one season they were in Europe’s top club competition.
United and Casemiro confirmed his exit later on Thursday.
“I will carry Manchester United with me throughout my entire life,” Casemiro said in United’s release.
“From the first day that I walked out at this beautiful stadium, I felt the passion of Old Trafford and the love that I now share with our supporters for this special club.
“It is not time to say goodbye; there are many more memories to create during the next four months.”
This season, the Brazilian has played 21 times, taking his total United appearances to 146.
Casemiro has started the majority of United’s games this term under head coaches Ruben Amorim, Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick, missing only their two cup defeats due to rotation and the Premier League games against Brentford and Aston Villa due to suspension. He has been a consistent figure in the United team since joining from Madrid, though his performances have sometimes been criticised.
Casemiro is also a regular in Brazil squads and appears likely to represent his country at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer.
Additional reporting: Mario Cortegana
Analysis
By Manchester United correspondent Mark Critchley
Spending £60m on a 30-year-old, giving him a salary of up to £350,000-per-week and signing him to a four-year contract with the option of a further 12 months would not typically be viewed as smart business. Hence why United will not be triggering said option in Casemiro’s contract.
But as expensive as four seasons of a five-time Champions League winner have been, it should not go down as a costly mistake.
Even though the wisdom of his signing and his ability to keep up with the pace of the Premier League has been called into question, it is easy to forget that, for at least the first six months, the consensus was that Casemiro was a transformative signing. That year, he helped United win the Carabao Cup and secure Champions League qualification — a vital target his signing was designed to achieve.
He was also part of the squad that won the 2024 FA Cup, although did not play in the final. Casemiro’s second season was more of a struggle — no more so than on the night of United’s 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace, when Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher implored him to “leave football before it leaves you”.
Yet he was far from the only United player to struggle to cope with the demands of Erik ten Hag’s helter-skelter style of play that year, and after initially being on the peripheries under Amorim, his professionalism and determination saw him force his way back into the starting line-up last season.
He has practically been an ever-present ever since and, despite the clamour for Kobbie Mainoo to play more minutes, few argued that the Englishman’s opportunities should come at Casemiro’s expense.
The announcement that he will leave at the end of the season follows a man-of-the-match display in Saturday’s Manchester derby, which was the latest example that he still has something to offer. This season, United have been a better team with him in it. Now he must be replaced. And that won’t be cheap either.