Neville predicts £43m Man Utd star ‘will leave’ with Casemiro as ‘problem’ is identified | OneFootball

Man Utd legend Gary Neville reckons Manuel Ugarte will leave Old Trafford with Casemiro in the summer, leaving the Red Devils needing two new midfielders.

Casemiro scored his seventh Premier League goal of the season as Man Utd beat Aston Villa 3-1 in the Premier League on Sunday to solidify third place in the table.

The Brazil international has been in good form in recent months with interim boss Michael Carrick winning seven, drawing one and losing one of his first nine matches in charge at Old Trafford.

Casemiro has already confirmed that he will be leaving Man Utd in the summer with his contract at Old Trafford expiring at the end of the season.

Man Utd legend Neville insists that the Red Devils will “miss his presence in both boxes” and has predicted that Ugarte, who signed from Paris Saint-Germain for €50m (£43m) in 2024, will join the Brazilian in leaving.

“When you see him now, you imagine… well we know because we saw him win five Champions League titles… what he was: he’s an exceptional central midfield player that played in one of the most dominant central midfields you’ll ever see, an amazing midfielder for Real Madrid.

“But it’s right that United do let him go and it’s right that he does leave United. This is like a cameo at the end of his career, almost like a swan song, where he’s probably loving every minute of this and you can see it.

“He’s showing and kissing his badge to the fans, the fans absolutely love him and it’s right that he does leave at the end of the season.

“They will miss his presence in both boxes. I think he’s phenomenal at getting on the end of crosses and he’s phenomenal at clearing them. He’s brave in the air, he’s really good, he gets up early.

“It was an exceptional goal.”

Neville added: “United need two central midfield players in the summer.

“In the last summer transfer window, they rebuilt their forward line with Benjamin Sesko, Mathus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo to go along with the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo, and that’s really starting to hum and purr and you can see real goals and real threat.

“Manchester United didn’t score enough goals last season and that’s an absolute no-no here, you have to score goals, so they’ve corrected that. Bruno Fernandes creating and even Mason Mount I’d throw into that when he’s fit.

“There does look to be good options up top but the centre of midfield is a problem.”

Neville continued: “I think Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro are doing a great job right now for Michael Carrick, however, every United fan in this stadium knows that’s going to be nowhere near enough when United start playing in the Champions League next season, which is more than likely they will, and they don’t get knocked out of the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup in the first round.

“They’re going to need three or four really good central midfielders. At the moment, they’ve got Mainoo who you can buy into, but you can’t really look at any of the others and think that’s going to work.

“Casemiro is leaving and I think Ugarte will leave so they need two really good central midfield players. Probably one that’s more positional, maybe like a Michael Carrick-type, and one that is more of a destroyer.”

Neville concluded: “Basically, they need those two players and that’s the next area of focus.

“I do think the back needs looking at but I think the midfield will be the real focus in the summer transfer window.”