One more year, one more year Casemiro, di Stretford End dey bellow as di Brazilian midfielder dey make im way down di tunnel to di Manchester United dressing room. Di 34-year-old don just complete full 90 minutes for 2-1 win over Brentford, wey highlight everything wey make am important player. After e score for di third successive home game, e celebrate by pointing to di badge on im shirt and give am kisses. E know how to play to crowd.
At di end, e win free-kicks inside di home penalty area, maximising contact from Nathan Collins as Brentford dey hunt equaliser. Di contributions dey priceless and underline wetin go miss next season when Casemiro presumably dey embark on another phase of im career – for United States if rumours become reality.
Yes, manager Michael Carrick talk when dem ask if di Brazilian United career go definitely end next month. E say, e clear from both sides. Filling di midfield void na by considerable distance, Manchester United priority dis summer. Di latest victory leave dem two points short of Champions League qualification after two-year absence. Dem get four games left.
Dem go lose all and Brighton or Bournemouth go need to win all dem matches. Nobody for official capacity go talk so, but di task technical director Jason Wilcox set United squad for wake of Ruben Amorim dismissal for January don achieve. Now, di big decisions must make, around players and management. Replacing Casemiro na one of di biggest.
Carrick talk say Casemiro don get influence for di group, huge experience and give everything. But e be football, players come and go. Central midfield na di priority area to strengthen. Nottingham Forest Elliott Anderson na di number one target. But di feeling for Old Trafford be say di approach dis summer go differ from wetin happen under previous regimes for two aspects.
First, dem don stress say di club no go overpay. If di price for Anderson, wey Manchester City amongst others dey covet, na £120m, United no go pursue. Every player value get cap, no matter how well regarded dem be. Second, dem intend to avoid get drawn into protracted negotiations before switching after season don start, wey be exactly how Casemiro end up for Old Trafford for 2022 after Erik ten Hag lengthy pursuit of Frenkie de Jong end for failure.
E fairly obvious but dem still dey reinforce say United recruitment team get multiple options. If Anderson be no, di club hierarchy feel there go be alternatives wey fit improve wetin dem already get. Di signings of Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha last summer dem use as template and evidence say quality players fit attract. United know dem squad need to expand to cope with demands of season wey fit contain 50% more games than current 40-match campaign.
Dem accept say no every signing go be success but di strategy dey aim to avoid paying huge sums and handing out over inflated contracts wey dey difficult to extricate di club from and, through likes of Marcus Rashford and Andre Onana, na legacy United still dey escape. There be recognition say while some players – Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw be di obvious examples – fit struggle to play more than dem don play dis season, others like Noussair Mazraoui don’t play enough.
Ayden Heaven don excel for central defence and there be feeling say e fit play more next season. Matthijs de Ligt fit dey out with back injury but once fit, there be belief say e fit cope with rigours of more arduous season. Two – and potentially three – central midfielders be key and regard as di priority. Left-sided attacking player go make sense given United dey market for Antoine Semenyo for January.
Before all that, there need to be decision about Carrick. Many feel say delivering return to Champions League – dem predict after im first two games against Manchester City and Chelsea say im side go dey bottom half of table – should be enough to secure am full-time contract. Getting rid of Carrick, di argument go, be di most risky option. But there be two schools of thought.
Di first be say Carrick get di job because e deserve di chance, e go wrong next season and di United hierarchy dey deride for following di Ole Gunnar Solskjaer model – even though dat downplay di Norwegian achievement of delivering successive top-four finishes, something no coach don do since Sir Alex Ferguson quit for 2013. Di other be say Carrick dey replace by more experienced manager, wey struggle to adapt and den di hierarchy dey accuse of trying to fix something wey no broken.
Dis decision no dey make easier by knowledge say Paris St-Germain dey confident di standout candidate, Luis Enrique, go sign new deal with dem, and even if e no do, go want wages among di highest for di world to change clubs. Di practicalities of trying to bring someone like Julian Nagelsman – wey contract with Germany no expire until 2028 and fit involve for World Cup final a day after Manchester United first pre-season game against Wrexham for Helsinki – make am unviable option.
Andoni Iraola dey well liked but, as Thomas Frank, wey talk to United for 2024, discover at Tottenham, managing progressive, smaller Premier League club na whole different world to dealing with di biggest. Nobody know wetin results Carrick go deliver when dem ask am to take over until end of season. However, one thing United powerbrokers dey certain about na say e no go swamp by di sheer scale of wetin e dey take on.
Carrick meet Sir Jim Ratcliffe for cup of tea and casual chat last week. Time go tell how important dat brew be. Barring unimaginable sequence of results, Old Trafford go host Champions League football again next season. But one sense for those wey dey run di club, dem most significant work dey about to begin.
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