Stick to Football podcast<\/a>, Keane said: “I’d be surprised if it happened.<\/p>\n“Because I still think that kid… he’s got to do a bit more. You’re talking about \u00a3100m, but I still think it’s potential with a lot of these players. You can’t pay \u00a3100m for a player where you don’t know which way he’s going to go.”<\/p>\n
However high they (might) think Baleba’s ceiling to be, some readers agree with Keane that United should look to more realistic and established targets. Reader Itzmayor2406 says: “I’m not in support of spending \u00a3100m on Baleba – spending similar for attackers is reasonable as that’s an expensive market.<\/p>\n
“The pressure at United is massive, look at [Florian] Wirtz for \u00a3120m who had an average game in the Community Shield and nobody really cared. If one of [Benjamin] Sesko, [Matheus] Cunha and [Bryan] Mbeumo don’t score this weekend, they’d probably be on the front pages on Monday.<\/p>\n
“That being said, spending \u00a3100m is a lot for him and with that pressure we can’t guarantee it’d be a hit.”<\/p>\n
Commenter Jungle Jerry writes: “I agree. \u00a3100m is too much for Baleba. United can’t afford it anyway. [The Bomb Squad] still haven’t been sold or loaned out. United needs a top-class holding midfielder to keep things intact in midfield. [Manuel] Ugarte hasn’t done it. Casemiro is past his prime. [Toby] Collyer is too inexperienced right now, but it’s good to know that he’ll be going out on loan.”<\/p>\n
Sidhu48 thinks that it’s the wrong time and place to be thinking about developing more new players: “Spending \u00a3100m for Baleba will be bad for both United and Baleba. United would have wasted the money, and Baleba’s development as a player would stagnate or spiral downwards. Ugarte had promise as did [Kobbie] Mainoo, and where are they? Baleba, think twice.”<\/p>\n
MickyFinn says: “Will those saying they want Man Utd to find the next unknown midfielder with potential, or make cheaper signings for lesser transfer fees, be patient when those players don’t hit the ground running or take two or three years to even start fulfilling that potential?<\/p>\n
“Ask yourselves if you want Man Utd to catch up to the top-four and try to compete with them, or keep finishing mid-table. Baleba has the potential to transform this Man Utd team, that’s probably why Amorim wants him.”<\/p>\n
Cromwellswart responds: “It’s about finding the right balance. Brighton have no real pressure to win anything. Anything above a top-10 finish is a success, so their business model of signing young cheap talent and selling for huge fees is risk-free. For United, the pressure and bright lights of Old Trafford is intense. Young players who would’ve blossomed at Brighton would wilt at United. Hopefully players like Chido [Obi], Collyer and [Diego] Leon are redressing the balance somewhat.”<\/p>\n
Have your say! Is Carlos Baleba worth the investment? Comment below, and join in on the conversation<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Baleba is THE talking point at Old Trafford right now with Man Utd great Roy Keane even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,117296,10006,393,4884,2465,423,9060,1677,12408,25281,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-349412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-carlos-baleba","10":"tag-commenting-content","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-manchester-united-fc","15":"tag-manchester-united-transfer-news","16":"tag-roy-keane","17":"tag-summer-transfer-window","18":"tag-transfer-window","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115039057160307616","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Isak-Drama-Gyokeres-vs-Sesko-New-Season-Predictions-_-Stick-to-Football-EP-89-41-54-screenshot-1-c.jpeg\")
Man Utd icon Roy Keane has already given his verdict on Carlos Baleba.(Image: TheOverlap\/YouTube)<\/p>\n