Two seasons ago Marc Casado was the academy graduate every Culer wanted to see, a pivot who forced his way into Hansi Flick’s midfield on merit and looked like a fixture for a decade. On Sunday, while his team-mates flew south for Barcelona’s first league game of the season at Elche, the 22-year-old was not with them. He has been training away from the group for weeks. And the clearest news about his future came not from Barcelona but from England, where the Marc Casado Premier League file suddenly has a favourite.
According to Mundo Deportivo, relaying a report from English outlet TeamTalk, several Premier League clubs have asked about Casado’s situation and one has moved into the lead: Nottingham Forest.
The Marc Casado Premier League field, and who leads it
Forest are not alone. TeamTalk, relayed by Mundo Deportivo’s Jordi Batalla, also place Aston Villa, Newcastle, Brighton and Sunderland in the running, while Chelsea and Manchester United — both previously linked — are said to have turned towards other targets. None of it is club-confirmed, and no offer has been reported as lodged.
Mundo Deportivo put Barcelona’s valuation at around €40m, the same figure Diario SPORT used when they reported that Barca hope to raise close to €100m from the sales of Casado, Alejandro Balde and Hector Fort — a plan we broke down in Barcelona Player Sales: The €100m SPORT Say Barca Are Chasing. His agent, Jorge Mendes, is working the market for a club where the midfielder would actually play.
Why Europe, and not Saudi Arabia
The most revealing detail in Mundo Deportivo’s report is what Casado has already turned down. Saudi Arabian clubs have made proposals that would pay him far more than anything in England, and he has said no. Mundo Deportivo say a Premier League exit would appeal to a player who wants to stay in Europe and prove himself in a competitive league.
His position at the club, meanwhile, is awkward in the way these things always are in the closing stretch of a window. Casado has spent several weeks training apart from the squad, specifically to avoid an injury that could compromise his exit — the same arrangement, Mundo Deportivo note, as Hector Fort and the cousins Guille and Toni Fernandez. He was left out of Flick’s 23 for Elche alongside Balde and Fort. His number 17 has gone to summer signing Anthony Gordon.
A goodbye that has taken all summer
None of this is new in outline. Casado’s exit has been coming since Barcelona rejected Al Hilal’s opening bid and held out for their valuation; Saudi interest from Al Hilal and Al Ahli has been reported as still alive but without a formal offer. What has changed is the shape of the market: from a Saudi payday the player did not want, through Benfica and an earlier Forest link, to an English field that now has five clubs in it and one apparently ahead.
For a midfielder who was one of Barcelona’s stories of the 2024-25 season and is now not in the matchday squad for their first league game of the campaign, the direction of travel is unmistakable. TeamTalk, for now, have Forest best placed to take him. Follow the rest of the window with our latest Barcelona news.
