Carlos Baleba: Manchester United's Key Transfer Target
Manchester United have their pre-season rhythm, a 5-0 win in Trondheim in the bank, and a clear to-do list in the transfer market. One name refuses to leave the conversation: Carlos Baleba.
A deal that never got off the ground
United’s summer under Michael Carrick has already taken shape. Youri Tielemans is in. Andrey Santos is in. The recruitment team continues to work on a new midfielder, a left-back and, if outgoings allow, a forward. The spine of the team is being rebuilt, and nowhere is that more pressing than at the base of midfield after Casemiro’s departure.
That is where Baleba comes back into focus.
During the January window, United’s interest in the Brighton holding midfielder was strong. It actually goes back further. According to Fabrizio Romano, speaking on his YouTube channel, Baleba “was pushing like crazy” in August last year to join United and even had personal terms agreed. The move never happened because Brighton simply refused to sell.
He was, Romano says, a “top target” at that point under Ruben Amorim’s influence. When Amorim and United decided not to continue together earlier this year, the Baleba track went cold. The club moved on. So did the market.
But Baleba didn’t.
Player’s camp makes the first move
Now his name is back in circulation, and not by accident. Romano reports that people close to the player have reopened contact with United, effectively asking the question the midfielder has been carrying for 12 months: is there still a way to Old Trafford?
This isn’t United knocking on Brighton’s door yet. It’s Baleba’s side checking whether the door in Manchester is even unlocked, especially after other midfield pursuits – including a move for Ederson – fell away.
For now, there is no bid, no formal approach. Just a player who once had an agreement with United, still keen, waiting to see if the club feel the same.
Any deal would not be cheap. Brighton’s price this summer is unclear, but the expectation is it would be north of £70 million. That is elite midfielder money. It demands certainty from United about both talent and fit.
A “monster” in waiting
On the talent side, the belief around Baleba is not in doubt. At 22, he has already shown he can handle the Premier League’s pace and physicality in Brighton’s midfield, drawing high-level praise from those who know the division.
Former Premier League midfielder Charlie Adam called himself “a big fan” of Baleba last year, picking him out alongside Yasin Ayari as standout young talents at Brighton. Adam highlighted the Cameroonian’s difference, his profile, his impact in Brighton’s win at Old Trafford, and wondered aloud if he was one of the next products off the club’s now-famous conveyor belt.
Roberto De Zerbi went even stronger. The former Brighton and current Tottenham head coach said he believes in Baleba and that the midfielder can become “one of the best players in the Premier League in the future, for sure.”
That is the level of upside United are weighing. A powerful, progressive, “monster” profile at the base of midfield, stepping into a team that has just lost its established anchor.
United’s pivot question
United know this position shapes the entire season. Get the pivot wrong and the structure collapses. Get it right and everything above it suddenly looks sharper: the centre-backs calmer, the full-backs braver, the forwards better supplied.
Carrick has already moved decisively in other areas, but this final midfield call demands patience and precision. One wrong move at £70m-plus is the kind of mistake that lingers for years. One right move can define an era.
Baleba’s camp has made its move. The player’s dream is unchanged. The opportunity, on his side at least, is wide open.
Now the question sits squarely with Manchester United: do they see their future midfield built around Carlos Baleba, or will this be the second summer his Old Trafford dream is left waiting?
