Wayne Rooney isn't sure if Casemiro’s transfer is what Manchester United needed

Even though he rates him as a footballer, he believes his age could be a problem

21/08/2022, 06:38 PM +00:00

Yesterday Manchester United announced the signing of Carlos Henrique Casemiro from Real Madrid in what probably is the biggest transfer of the summer in football. However, it is well known that the Brazilian midfielder wasn’t the club’s first choice, since they spent the entire transfer window trying to sign Frenkie De Jong. For that reason, Wayne Rooney isn’t sure this was the right choice to make.

The former striker rates Casemiro as a player but feels his age could be a problem: “Casemiro will undoubtedly improve Manchester United. He is a good player. I have played against him and he will bring a bit of character, a bit of work rate, but is he exactly what United need? I’m not sure. This goes back to the need to look to the future”, he said to Times Sport.

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He doesn’t like that players over the age of 30 are being targeted by the club: “Ideally, they should be signing players in their early to mid-twenties, and Casemiro is similar to Christian Eriksen, someone who has been a good player, but are they going to help the club move forward? Frenkie De Jong would be a better fit”, he said to Times Sport.

The DC United manager noticed the signing was unexpected and very quick: “The Casemiro deal seems to have come from nowhere. I would be surprised if he was a player identified as a priority to bring in when ten Hag arrived. It looks like, having been unable to sign De Jong, Manchester United just reacted to him being available” (Times Sport).

Age isn’t a problem

Even though Wayne Rooney could be right about some things like the fact that this transfer took everyone by surprise and made Manchester United look desperate after paying £70 million fixed plus £10m in add-ons. However, Casemiro is arguably the best player in the world in his position. In addition, footballers are now playing until they are 38 years old, so age shouldn’t be a problem.