![\"Manchester](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_GettyImages-2236443328.jpg\")
Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba was heavily linked with a move to Manchester United in the summer transfer window(Image: Photo by Alex Pantling\/Getty Images)<\/p>\nManchester United continue to be linked with 21-year-old Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba after a summer move failed to come to fruitionBrighton midfielder Carlos Baleba was heavily linked with a move to Manchester United in the summer transfer window(Image: Photo by Alex Pantling\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba<\/a> has shared a cryptic message on social media amid ongoing transfer links with Manchester United<\/a>.<\/p>\n The 21-year-old was heavily tipped to make the switch to Old Trafford<\/a> during the summer transfer window, although widespread reports of interest never materialised into a formal bid. The fee required to tempt Brighton into reconsidering their firm \u2018not for sale\u2019 stance was simply too high in a summer already defined by heavy spending from the Red Devils.<\/p>\n While strengthening midfield is undoubtedly a key priority for United and Ruben Amorim<\/a> moving forward – despite Casemiro<\/a>\u2019s resurgence so far this season – it is a task that has effectively been postponed, with the January transfer window now fast approaching.<\/p>\n Despite links with Baleba, United focused their summer business on attacking reinforcements, with Bryan Mbeumo<\/a>, Matheus Cunha<\/a> and Benjamin Sesko<\/a> all arriving for a combined total of more than \u00a3200 million. Even so, links with Mbeumo\u2019s Cameroon teammate have not faded and an opportunity may still arise in future windows.<\/p>\n This season, Baleba has made 14 appearances across all competitions for Fabian Hurzeler\u2019s Brighton side but is yet to score or assist in what has been a relatively slow start to the campaign. The Seagulls currently sit mid-table in 16th place with 16 points from their 11 matches to date.<\/p>\n Cameroon suffered a disappointing exit from World Cup qualifying this week – a 1-0 defeat to DR Congo in a play-off semi-final. Baleba, who had been booked in the first half of the match in Morocco, was substituted at half-time before his side conceded a late winner from Congo\u2019s Chancel Mbemba.<\/p>\n The player has since taken to Instagram with a pointed message. He re-shared an image of former Brighton teammate Joao Pedro, now at Premier League<\/a> rivals Chelsea<\/a>, accompanied by the caption: \u201cDon\u2019t try rush what God is taking time to prepare.\u201d<\/p>\n The young midfielder joined Brighton from Ligue 1 side Lille for \u00a323 million in the summer of 2023, following Moises Caicedo\u2019s move from the Amex to Chelsea. He remains under contract with Brighton until 2028, with an option to extend to 2029, leaving the club under no pressure to sell one of their key players any time soon.<\/p>\n Earlier this season, Hurzeler addressed Baleba\u2019s mixed start to the campaign and admitted that the summer links with United may have played a role in his dip in form. \u201cFor sure, when a young boy reads there is interest from Manchester United with a big, big offer, it might affect him deep, deep (down),\u201d the Premier League boss said in a press conference back in September.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s also part of the development – to understand that when you play well, there comes a big offer, there comes a big club who wants to have him.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then to keep pushing, to be humble, stay here in Brighton, and try to make the next step with the team – that\u2019s something we have to keep working on with him, and therefore I can\u2019t give you a clear answer if it\u2019s really affected him or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Here at The Manchester Evening News, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United<\/a> coverage and analysis.<\/p>\n Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here<\/strong><\/a> to subscribe.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here<\/strong><\/a> to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.<\/p>\n And, finally, if you would rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify<\/strong><\/a> and Apple Podcasts<\/strong><\/a>, and you can also watch along on YouTube<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United continue to be linked with 21-year-old Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba after a summer move failed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":574130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,117296,393,4884,2465,423,9060,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-574129","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-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-united-fc","14":"tag-manchester-united-transfer-news","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115559428328731393","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574129","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=574129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/574130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Carlos](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Baleba-Insta-story.jpg\")
Carlos Baleba’s Instagram story(Image: Instagram)<\/p>\n