Barcelona tell Man Utd man to ‘forget about’ January loan and must ‘find another refuge’

Man Utd midfielder Casemiro will have to look elsewhere for a potential January loan after Barcelona sporting director Deco reportedly vetoed a possible transfer.

The Red Devils signed the Brazil international from Real Madrid in the summer opf 2022 in a £70m deal with much expected of the five-time Champions League winner.

Casemiro had a good first season at Old Trafford, helping Erik ten Hag’s side reach an FA Cup final, win the League Cup and finish in the Premier League’s top four.

But his poor performances and unavailability have frustrated supporters this season and there have been reports suggesting that incoming part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe sees Casemiro as one of the first players he needs to move on.

The Brazilian has been linked with moves to Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain with Man Utd reportedly looking to get his £350,000-a-week salary off their wage bill.

A move to Barcelona would be extremely controversial with Casemiro playing for arch-rivals Real Madrid for nine years, winning numerous trophies at the Bernabeu.

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And now Spanish publication Nacional insist Casemiro ‘has been offered’ to Barcelona on loan until the end of the season by Man Utd with the Catalan giants prepared to ‘take charge of practically the entire player’s salary’.

However, the report adds that ‘it is a possibility that Deco has never considered’ after ‘observing from a distance the decline of the 31-year-old footballer’.

Casemiro saw Barcelona as an ‘interesting escape route’ but he will have to ‘forget about’ it and ‘will have to stay in Manchester until he is able to find another refuge’.

And former Man Utd defender Gary Neville thinks Casemiro is a perfect example of the bad recruitment the Red Devils have been doing in recent years.

Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast: “Coming in from an owner’s perspective, you employ a head of recruitment who you think is the best guy out there at spotting talent, that will bring value to your club. You’ve got a sporting director equally, who will be thinking the same way – their loyalty is to the club and to make sure we win games.

“A manager’s job is purely to think about the immediate short term and getting results for himself. Casemiro is perfect example of a short-term signing that is going to cost in the long term.

“That signing never should have gone through a good sporting director, a good owner, and a good head of recruitment. That signing should have never gone through, it should have been a veto.”