Casemiro Tipped to Follow David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s MLS Path

The countdown is on for the end of the Brazilian’s Manchester United career.

Casemiro’s Manchester United career is coming to an end—and he could tread a very familiar path. | John Salangsang/Variety/Penske Media/Getty Images, James Gill/ Danehouse/Getty Images, Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images

LA Galaxy are exploring a move for Casemiro once the Manchester United midfielder’s contract expires in the summer, reports state.

The Brazil international surprisingly announced that he would not be signing a new contract in January, ensuring these will be his final few months at Old Trafford. Reports quickly emerged claiming that the 33-year-old had garnered admiring glances from Major League Soccer.

No specific club had yet been floated but the Daily Mail claim that the Galaxy are ramping up their interest. Casemiro is thought to be considered as a potential Designated Player—a role specifically created for former Manchester United star David Beckham when he joined the Galaxy in 2007 and lated used by Zlatan Ibrahimović in 2018—to fund his extravagant wages outside the constraints of the league’s wage demands.

MLS clubs are allowed three DPs on their roster and the Galaxy have already filled their allotment. However, star midfielder Riqui Puig is set to be sidelined for the entire 2026 season with a knee injury after missing the 2025 campaign with a similar issue. Without the former Barcelona midfielder, the Galaxy recorded a franchise-low seven wins. The need for a new talismanic central presence is obvious.

Manchester United are not exactly blessed with an abundance of midfield options themselves.

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Man Utd’s Casemiro Consideration

Casemiro was the star of the show in his first appearance at Old Trafford after announcing his exit. | Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty Images

The same report claims that United “would no doubt have given serious consideration” to extending Casemiro’s contract had he not been on such a swollen age at this late stage of his career.

Thought to be one of the division’s best-paid players on a reported £375,000 ($515,000) per week, Casemiro’s salary has come under public scrutiny from United’s powerbrokers. Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe notably lumped the five-time Champions League winner into the bracket of players branded “some are not good enough and some probably are overpaid” during a scathing interview in March 2025.

A few months earlier, prominent Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher infamously declared: “The football has left him. At this top level, he needs to call it a day at this level and move.”

Casemiro has completely reversed those negative opinions with a series of composed and increasingly impressive performances. In the immediate aftermath of a masterful display against Fulham last weekend, which saw the defensive midfielder score and assist to leave United in a 2–0 lead when he was subbed off, Carragher conceded: “It is now fair to say the football has not left him.”

“Credit to him, he looks a completely different player,” the retired Liverpool defender beamed. “He looks like a different player physically as well. Even when I said that, you looked at him and he looked like an old man coming to the end of his time as a player.”

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How Man Utd Can Replace Casemiro?

Leon Goretzka is leaving Bayern Munich. | Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images

United’s interest in the costly trio of Elliot Anderson, Carlos Baleba and Adam Wharton is well documented. After refraining from spending a penny in the January transfer window, one of these perennial transfer targets will surely command an eye-watering fee from the Premier League giants.

Given the paucity of midfield options already—United wilted to a staggering degree when Casemiro was substituted for the closing stages against Fulham, watching on in horror as his teammates conceded twice before Benjamin Šeško nabbed a late winner—the Red Devils may be inclined to buy more than one midfielder.

Soon-to-be free agent Leon Goretzka has been billed as a potential relatively cost-effective candidate once his Bayern Munich contract expires in the summer. The all-action German would certainly bring the personality which Casemiro boasts, crashing into tackles as freely as he bounds into the opposition box.

Goretzka’s compatriot Angelo Stiller at Stuttgart will command a fee but it shouldn’t be excessive. The deep-lying schemer is more of a chance creator than Casemiro, leaving the grubby battling to his midfield partner Atakan Karazor while he mops up the loose balls.

If Casemiro continues to perform at the same lofty level, anyone who comes in to replace him will have a tough task on their hands.

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