Casemiro's Neymar Plea to Ancelotti as Man Utd Exit Looms

Casemiro is already talking like a man with one eye on his next chapter. Manchester United are the past; Brazil and Carlo Ancelotti are very much the future.

The 34-year-old midfielder, who has made it clear he will leave Old Trafford this summer, has turned his attention to the World Cup and one name in particular: Neymar.

For Casemiro, Brazil’s record goalscorer still holds the key.

“We don’t have this player in this moment”

Neymar has not pulled on the Brazil shirt since a devastating knee injury two-and-a-half years ago, when he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left leg. Minor surgery on the same knee followed late last year, then another procedure during the March international break.

Those setbacks would have finished lesser players at this stage of their career. Neymar, now 34, chose a different route. He walked away from Al-Hilal almost 18 months ago, returned to his boyhood club Santos, and has quietly played his way back to sharpness. Goals in back-to-back games have arrived at exactly the right time, just days before Ancelotti names his Brazil squad.

Casemiro sees enough to make a very public plea.

Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel, he laid out how he would use Neymar: not as the untouchable star who must play every minute, but as a weapon to be unleashed.

“My decision, yes, but (the) decision you need to (make) first is (tell him), ‘hey, Neymar, you don't play every game,’” Casemiro said. “He plays every game. For me, it's not perfect for him, I think he comes, and the game is not finished, the game is new, new. And (contributing) a special assist, a special goal is (the role) for him.”

Ferdinand cut in: “He could change the game.”

Casemiro didn’t hesitate. “Yeah, change the game, and we don't have this player in this moment, we don't have, so, for me, in my opinion (yes), but it's Ancelotti's decision.”

That is the crux of it. In Casemiro’s eyes, Brazil lack a pure game-changer. A fit, carefully managed Neymar, even in short bursts, still fits that description.

Ancelotti, “my friend” and “the best”

Casemiro’s confidence in making such a bold recommendation stems from a relationship with Ancelotti that goes far beyond the usual player-coach dynamic.

The Italian, who brought Casemiro back into the Brazil set-up last year after a spell out of the picture, is someone the midfielder openly calls a friend.

“I have good, very good feelings with him,” Casemiro told Ferdinand. “He's my friend, he's my friend. I know what he likes, what he doesn't like, I know everything. I've known Ancelotti for a long time, he's (been) my friend for a long time, so I know sometimes I push here, I don't push here, I know everything about Ancelotti.

“Ancelotti is in the top three in the world. In the last 15 years, he's (been) the best. He's the best, so Ancelotti is not just my manager, he's my friend.”

Pressed on what makes the Italian “special” among elite coaches, Casemiro went straight to Ancelotti’s feel for the dressing room.

“For me, the first thing is (that) he talks about what the players like to lose. You know? What the players like. ‘I give you one thing, you give me this’.”

He then widened the lens. Talent on the touchline is not enough, he argued.

“But it's impossible to win with just a good manager, you need a good tactic, tactical. You need to know about this; it's impossible to have just one good thing. For winning trophies, you need everything, but for me, the best thing is a very good manager, he understands the players.”

Understanding, trust, and a long history together at Real Madrid and now with Brazil mean Casemiro feels able to speak frankly about Neymar’s role. Ancelotti will make the final call, but his former midfield general has made his stance unmistakably clear.

“No chance” of a Man Utd U-turn

While he talks so passionately about Brazil’s future, Casemiro has been just as decisive about his own.

He will leave Manchester United at the end of the season. No drama. No late twist. No emotional U-turn.

As a free agent this summer, he will have the rare luxury of picking his next manager and project. The decision, he says, was made months ago and nothing has changed.

Speaking to ESPN earlier this month, he shut down any suggestion that he might be persuaded to stay.

“I don't think there's a chance, there's no chance, mostly because of what I said, you know? Go out the big door,” he said.

“I think it was four beautiful, wonderful years, and I am eternally grateful not only to the club, but to the fans, but I think I have to leave on good terms, I have to go out on top. I will be an eternal United fan here in England, and I just have to thank all the love from the fans.”

The language is telling. “Big door.” “On top.” Casemiro wants his Old Trafford story to close cleanly, with respect intact on both sides.

What comes next is less clear. What is obvious is where his heart and his football brain are right now: on a Brazil side he believes still needs Neymar, and on a “special” Italian coach he trusts to get that decision right.