– Has Casemiro confirmed to me he was leaving? I spoke to him this morning. He wants to try a new challenge and a new chance. Me and the club understand that. We have to respect his desire for what kind of person he is and what he has done here. Negotiations are now underway. Nothing is official, he remains a Real Madrid player but his will is to leave. If he goes and an agreement is reached, we have the resources to replace him.
– Have I tried to convince Casemiro to stay? Not. I just listened to him. Throughout this year, I talked to him often, I have a very close relationship with him, he has helped us a lot here, and therefore, listening to his desire, I do not see any turning back. If the negotiations go his way, we will wish him the best and see what we are left with. Now it’s hard for me to say, because I don’t know what will happen: will he stay or he will go … If he doesn’t stay, our gratitude to him will be great, because he coped well and is doing great.
– Won’t Casemiro fly to Vigo? If the negotiations go on, then no.
– We have Casemiro’s deputies in the squad. Tchouaméni was bought for this position. He’s one of the best midfielders on the market right now. For this we have the option with Toni Kroos, who can play in this position. He played it in my second season when we won 22 games in a row. We also have Camavinga who played there last season. We are not replacing a player with characteristics like Casemiro, but we have other players with different characteristics. Only a player with the Casemiro traits may not play in this position. Others can play too.
– Does the plan change so that the staff is complete? No … If Casemiro leaves, we have six midfielders: Modricia, Kroos, Tchouaméni, Camavinga, Valverde and Ceballos. We had seven of them with Casemiro. In my opinion, six is enough to go through the entire season. Needless to say, these six are very, very good.
“Kroos said he doesn’t like playing as a defensive midfielder?” Nothing that I know of. He didn’t tell me anything about it. Maybe he told someone else, but he didn’t tell me. If he tells me something like that, it won’t change anything for me [uśmiech].