Manchester United will hand Casemiro the No.18 shirt while the player will now be at Old Trafford on Monday to watch their Premier League game against Liverpool, according to reports in Spain.
United are on the brink of completing their £59.5m deal for the Brazil international, who is leaving Real Madrid having won 18 trophies with the club.
An agreement was reached with Madrid on Friday, however, visa issues complicated United’s aim to unveil their new signing before their match against Liverpool on Monday.
According to Marca, United have now appeared to overcome those obstacles as Casemiro will say goodbye to Madrid fans and teammates at a press conference on Monday before he travels to Manchester later that same day.
The report claims that United will present him at Old Trafford on Monday and are aiming to complete the paperwork in order for the midfielder to be available for their Premier League game against Southampton on August 27.
It’s believed that the Red Devils have also assigned Casemiro the No.18 shirt, which was vacated by Bruno earlier this summer.
Manchester United’s No.18 shirt was famously worn by Paul Scholes for the majority of his time at Old Trafford.
During his time at Real Madrid, Casemiro wore both the No.38 and No.16 shirts before sticking with the No.14 since 2015.
Speaking ahead of United’s game against Liverpool, Erik ten Hag conceded United’s lack of a defensive midfielder is one of the reasons for their poor start to the new Premier League season.
‘I think we had a good basic pre-season, but then our number nine [Anthony] Martial was injured and Ronny [Cristiano Ronaldo] is not fit,’ said Ten Hag.
‘The ‘six’ in holding midfield is not there. First game, we had the two in defence who had never played with each other and the goalkeeper was also not the best in this period.
‘There is a clear reason why. But I know we will fix that and I know that we will be better and the results will show this. It has been shown in pre-season.’
