Manchester United Eyeing £40 Million Premier League Star as Potential Replacement for Casemiro
Manchester United are drawing up plans to replace Casemiro this summer and have identified Wolves midfielder Joao Gomes as a potential target. The former Real Madrid superstar made a huge impact at Old Trafford last season following his surprise transfer, but has found the going much tougher this time around. Injuries have played their part and the 32-year-old was again absent on Sunday as a makeshift United side came from behind to complete a memorable FA Cup comeback against Liverpool.
Gomes, meanwhile, joined Wolves last January and has quickly established himself as one of the most promising midfielders in the Premier League. With Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho, and Matheus Nunes all having left Molineux over the course of the last 18 months, Gomes has faced an unenviable task but has shouldered the burden of responsibility with distinction. United, according to the Mirror, have scouted the 23-year-old on several occasions already and are contemplating a £40 million bid in the summer.
Wolves are aware of the interest in their prize asset and are already scouting for a potential replacement. Gomes fits the specifications for the type of player United will look to rebuild their squad around under the watchful eye of new minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The British billionaire and his hastily assembled new-look backroom team will oversee a major overhaul of the current squad and Ratcliffe outlined his vision in a wide-ranging interview last week.
‘The solution isn’t spending a lot of money on a couple of great players,’ said the INEOS chief. ‘They’ve done that over the last 10 years. The first thing we need to do is get the right people in the right boxes who are managing and organizing the club and make sure we get recruitment right. It’s such a vital part of running a football club today, finding new players. ‘You need the right organization structure. In the days of Sir Alex Ferguson, he was the manager. We don’t have managers today, we have a coach. And the coach would report to a sporting director and they would report to the chief executive.
‘You need to figure out where you put recruitment and strategy, you need to get your organization right and then populate it with people who are best in class. It’s not a light switch at Man Utd, it’s a much longer road to travel because there are so many aspects of that club and that game that you need to get right.’