Casemiro joined Manchester United at 30 years old having already won everything there is to win in club football.
For four seasons he gave it his all; scoring in the League Cup final in a win vs. Newcastle, winning an FA Cup against rivals Manchester City, and sticking with the club through a turbulent time.
In his final games as a Red Devil, he broke his single season scoring tally with nine goals in the Premier League.
The Brazilian bows out of the club having fully endeared himself to the Old Trafford faithful ❤️
Beat Man City at Etihad Stadium
Embarassed Arsenal at Emirates
Bullied Liverpool home and away
Flogged the most useless club home and away
What a season we've had! #GGMU
Here is why United are wearing this jersey today and not the Snapdragon themed one.
Snapdragon pays tens of millions of pounds a year to have their logo on the front of Manchester United's shirt. Today they gave that space away voluntarily acharity founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver.
There is a business reason behind that generosity, but the cause behind it is worth understanding first.
Manchester United are donning this special edition home shirt against Brentford at Old Trafford today with the (RED) charity logo replacing the usual Snapdragon branding on the front.
(RED) is an organisation that fights health injustice globally, raising funds for the Global Fund to combat AIDS and other diseases. All net proceeds from the limited edition shirts and match-worn items go directly to that cause, with the Gates Foundation matching additional funds raised on top.
This is the second consecutive season United have done this. Last season the special shirt appeared against West Ham. The collaboration is between Manchester United, Snapdragon and (RED), and the mechanic is straightforward.
Snapdragon donates their logo space for the match, (RED) gets the visibility, the shirts go on sale to the public, and match-worn items are auctioned afterwards.
The legal framework that makes this possible is an FA rule that permits clubs to temporarily replace their front-of-shirt sponsor with a charity logo for specific designated matches.
Without that provision, the standard sponsorship contract would make the swap commercially impossible regardless of the intention behind it.
Snapdragon's logo will for every other match. But for today, one of the most valuable pieces of advertising real estate in English football belongs to a charity.
My name is Ajoje. I am a FIFA Licensed Agent and International Sports Lawyer. I write on the Law and Business of Football, a lot. Repost and Follow if you want to read more posts like this.