Rio Ferdinand has expressed his delight over the signing of Casemiro after the Brazilian international completed his £70million transfer to Manchester United on Monday.
United confirmed the arrival of the experienced midfielder just before kick-off as the Red Devils beat Liverpool 2-1 in the Premier League on Monday night. Casemiro was unveiled on the pitch at Old Trafford and received a warm reception from the home faithful as Erik ten Hag completed his fourth signing of the summer window, with Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen also joining the club.
He is the second-most expensive player over the age of 30, with Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of the list after making the £99m move to Juventus in 2018. Ex-United defender Ferdinand is hugely excited with the addition of the five-time Champions League winner - and even took a slight dig at Sky Sports.
The BT Sport pundit said: "Do you know what it is? I think it is because Sky Sports don't do Champions League [coverage]. My man [Casemiro] has five Champions Leagues, you don't watch it. Imagine adding Casemiro to that team with the way they played today, I'm licking my lips, man."
This is a different view to the one held by Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville. The 47-year-old was not as sure on the transfer and cited fears over Casemiro's age as a reason behind his concerns. However, his primary issue stemmed from the fact the Brazilian was not a reported transfer target for long before the move was confirmed.
"That’s why sometimes now I don’t get as excited as I do about the signings that come in, because I know they’re not a part of the strategy at the start of the summer," Neville admitted.
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"Every other club is very precise, you don’t see them bouncing around like a pinball for one player to another. It’s [Frenkie] De Jong, [Adrien] Rabiot then it ends up being Casemiro on a phenomenal contract that’s going to cost the club £160m.
"I have to say he’ll do well for the club for a couple of years, Casemiro, but someone in two years' time is going to pick up a player beyond their best years for £20m that they can’t shift. That might be Erik ten Hag, it might be a new manager, it might be new owners, so there is a large element of desperation with the signing, because a five-year contract for a 30-year-old shouldn’t happen."
United know all too well how it feels to have an ageing midfielder on the books that they can't move on. The likes of Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata all left this summer without generating the club a penny in transfer fees due to simply waiting to the expiration of their contracts before departing.
