Casemiro wants Inter Miami: Man Utd star sacrifices huge salary to play with Messi

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Tom Weber | Writer

Multilingual sports writer who specialises in European football and American soccer.

Manchester United midfielder Casemiro has his heart set on a summer move to Inter Miami.

The captain of the Brazilian national team will depart the Red Devils this summer. Casemiro and Man Utd agreed to waive the automatic one-year extension in his contract to part ways after the current season.

In recent weeks, this decision from the club has come under increasing scrutiny because the 34-year-old has been nothing short of sensational. Several teammates, including captain Bruno Fernandes and striker Benjamin Sesko, have called for him to stay.

However, the decision to leave is final, and Casemiro is already thinking about his next move. He is fielding interest from Saudi Arabia and two Major League Soccer franchises.

Inter Miami and the LA Galaxy are vying for his signature. According to Sky Sports, Casemiro's preferred destination is clear: he wants to move to Florida over California.

Casemiro keen on Messi link-up

The report states that MLS is a "likely destination" for him, with Casemiro having his heart set on joining David Beckham's franchise. It is no secret that he recently visited Miami with his family, and it appears that the city left a strong impression.

"Miami is said to be the city he and his family would like to live in the most," it is claimed. There is also the Lionel Messi factor. Playing alongside the Argentine legend holds major appeal to the Brazilian. This is all well and good, but how will a deal actually materialise?

MLS has stringent roster regulations, and FootballTransfers has written at length about the need to compromise before a transfer can happen. Casemiro either needs to take a monumental pay cut, or Miami have to sell one of their Designated Players (DPs).

Well, the report claims that "the conditions are right" for a move, pointing to the fact that Miami acquired an international roster spot earlier this year and that Casemiro is willing to make financial sacrifices.

The latter is the more important aspect because the international spot referenced here is extraneous. It was acquired from the New England Revolution in late February and was used on one of their offseason signings. Miami have already filled all of their 11 international spots.

Moreover, the spot they acquired will return to the Revs when the secondary window opens on 13 July, so it is hardly going to be useful for the signing of Casemiro. His willingness to reduce his wages is therefore much more interesting.

Casemiro is currently believed to be on a gross salary of around €27m per season, inclusive of bonuses. Naturally, this would make him a DP in MLS, and unless German Berterame or Rodrigo de Paul get sold (Messi obviously isn't leaving), Miami can't sign another DP.

However, if Casemiro is willing to reduce his salary (by a lot), then that changes everything. The maximum budget charge against the salary cap for a single player is $803,125 in 2026, but this is not necessarily synonymous with a player's salary.

Players can earn more than this figure and not be DPs because MLS clubs can use General Allocation Money (GAM) to buy down the budget charge of contracts. That said, this may be irrelevant to the Herons.

As of 20 February, when MLS released its roster profiles, Miami had just $17,361 available in GAM. That's basically nothing. The day before the profiles were published, Miami acquired that international spot from the Revs for $125,000 in 2026 GAM and $125,000 in 2027 GAM.

There hasn't been a trade since. However, those familiar with the inner workings of MLS urge against putting too much stock into the official figures the league releases. It is possible that Miami still has more GAM available due to some nebulous mechanisms.

They can (and likely must) also make trades to get some GAM back and free up salary cap space before they sign Casemiro. The all-important fact, though, is that, if the Brazilian is really willing to take a gigantic pay cut, then a deal is actually possible, even if Miami do not sell a DP.

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