Carlos Baleba's Manchester United Debut Delayed by Ankle Injury
Carlos Baleba will have to wait for his Manchester United debut, with Michael Carrick confirming the £70 million signing is expected to be sidelined for up to three weeks with an ankle injury.
The 22-year-old midfielder completed his move from Brighton on Tuesday, joining Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans as part of United’s summer midfield rebuild. He arrived to glowing praise from director of football Jason Wilcox, who hailed him as “an elite midfielder with immense potential to develop further.” But Old Trafford will not see him in red just yet.
Baleba reported with an ankle problem that has already kept him out of Brighton’s Conference League fixtures and their Premier League opener. It rules him out of Sunday’s Premier League home game against promoted Ipswich and is likely to delay his first appearance until later next month.
“He’s got a little ankle issue, so maybe a couple of weeks or so, maybe three weeks,” Carrick said. “We’ll see but we knew that before, so it’s no major issue but it’ll be great to have him back when we can.”
The schedule offers a natural target. United face Brighton in the Carabao Cup before travelling to Fulham on September 20, their final match before the international break. After that pause, they host Tottenham on October 10. Carrick’s timeline points towards that run as the window in which Baleba could finally pull on a United shirt, potentially even against his former club.
Asked whether Baleba and Amad Diallo might make it back before the three-week international break, Carrick refused to lock in dates.
“It’s obviously new, the break to deal with, but we’ll wait and see,” he said. “We’re hopeful but I don’t want to put any deadlines on it just yet.
“Amad won’t be involved this week. He’ll be out for a little bit longer. Mase (Mason Mount) is back around the group, which was great. Trained this week, so that’s a big positive for us.”
The injury frustration has not dulled the club’s enthusiasm about what Baleba can bring once fit.
“We’re delighted to have Carlos,” Carrick said. “I think huge potential, massive potential. I think he’s a really exciting signing for us.
“I think the quality that he has, the attributes that he has that offsets a little bit of the balance of the group that we’ve got. Different strengths, different combinations.
“So, for us to have that, absolutely delighted to have him. I think there’s so much more to come from him as well, which with the player that he already is with that little bit more to come is exciting for us.”
For now, the focus turns to repairing early-season damage. United opened their campaign with a 2-0 defeat at play-off winners Hull, a flat start that has sharpened the need for a reaction against Ipswich.
Marcus Rashford was thrown on at half-time in that loss after being given extra rest following the World Cup, with Lisandro Martinez and Kobbie Mainoo also introduced from the bench as Carrick searched for a spark.
“We’ve got a squad to choose from. We’ve got a good squad and we could pick a variety kind of combinations within the team,” the United boss said. “We’ll pick a team for the weekend but, yeah, certainly the boys are massively in contention.”
Baleba will not be part of that response. But once the ankle heals and the fixtures tighten, United’s revamped midfield – and their season’s direction – will be judged with him in the thick of it, not watching from the treatment room.
