Messi team-mate or rival? Casemiro wanted by two MLS clubs 🇺🇸 | OneFootball

Major League Soccer (MLS) teams Inter Miami and LA Galaxy are interested in signing Casemiro when he leaves Manchester United in the middle of the year.

The Brazilian already announced in January that he will leave United when his contract expires at the end of the season.

According to The Athletic, the 34-year-old defensive midfielder is attracting interest from Inter Miami, where he could team up with Messi, and from Marco Reus’s LA Galaxy.

The Brazil international has made 155 appearances since moving from Real Madrid to Old Trafford in a deal worth at least £60 million (around $80.9 million) in mid-2022, winning the League Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024.

Before moving to Manchester, Casemiro spent more than seven years at Madrid, making 336 appearances and winning 17 trophies, including five Champions Leagues and three La Liga titles.

After coming through São Paulo’s youth academy, he also had a notable spell at Porto.

Casemiro has made 82 appearances for Brazil’s senior national team and captained the side in the October matches, and he is expected to remain in the role during this FIFA international window.

Casemiro could be seen as a replacement in Miami’s midfield following the loss of Sergio Busquets, but the club would have to work more magic with the salary cap and would likely need the player himself to accept a drastic pay cut for the deal to work.

Miami recently won the MLS Cup and sits third in the league, three points off the top after five rounds.

Galaxy also do not currently have an open Designated Player spot, but they have a quick path to gaining roster flexibility in 2027.

Casemiro would join Marco Reus in a star-studded midfield that is trying to find its footing for a second straight year without the injured Riqui Puig.

Galaxy, meanwhile, are 10th after the same number of matches in the conference, but they are in the Champions Cup quarterfinals.

If MLS manages to lure Casemiro to North America, it would continue a trend of stars arriving in the league in recent years since Messi’s arrival, including Reus (Galaxy), Rodrigo de Paul (Inter Miami), Wilfried Zaha (Charlotte FC), Thomas Müller (Vancouver Whitecaps), Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min (LAFC), James Rodríguez (Minnesota United), Timo Werner (San Jose Earthquakes), and Antoine Griezmann, who recently signed a deal to join Orlando City in the middle of the year.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

📸 OLI SCARFF - AFP or licensors