{"id":125093,"date":"2025-08-07T01:43:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T01:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/125093\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T01:43:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T01:43:19","slug":"manchester-united-contact-brighton-to-explore-conditions-of-potential-carlos-baleba-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/125093\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester United contact Brighton to explore conditions of potential Carlos Baleba move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester United have made contact with Brighton & Hove Albion, via intermediaries, to explore the conditions of a deal for midfielder Carlos Baleba.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old, who has three years left on his Brighton contract, is emerging as one of the most highly-rated players in his position and Brighton do not intend to sanction a sale this summer.<\/p>\n

But interest is building and United are among the many suitors, which has now been relayed through go-betweens.<\/p>\n

Brighton made clear they favour keeping hold of the Cameroon international \u2014 who is under contract until 2028 with an option to extend by 12 months \u2014 for at least another year.<\/p>\n

There is also a recognition on all sides that a switch now may be unrealistic, especially if United seal their proposed move for RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko.<\/p>\n

Unless the Old Trafford side are able to secure a raft of lucrative sales, it is improbable they can afford big-money recruits up front and in the number six role.<\/p>\n

However, those are the two key positions they want to bolster at present and Baleba features prominently among the targets.<\/p>\n

It should be known in the coming days if the situation can develop or not as United look to continue strengthening head coach Ruben Amorim\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

In addition to United\u2019s search for a striker, United are also in the market for a mobile midfielder, as reported in The Athletic\u2019s Transfer DealSheet on July 29<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They currently have Casemiro, Manuel Ugarte, and Toby Collyer in their ranks, while Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo can also be deployed in the central midfielder positions in Ruben Amorim\u2019s 3-4-3 formation.<\/p>\n

The Athletic previously reported<\/a> that Collyer, 21, may leave the club on loan this summer, while Casemiro, 33, has entered the final year of his United contract.<\/p>\n

Baleba joined Brighton from Lille in the summer of 2023 in a deal worth just under \u00a326million ($34.5m) with add-ons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his time in the Premier League, the Cameroon international has established himself as one of the division\u2019s most promising young midfielders.<\/p>\n

Last season, he made 40 appearances in all competitions, scoring four goals and providing two assists.\u00a0 Baleba has made seven appearances for Cameroon.<\/p>\n

Why is Baleba so highly rated?<\/p>\n

Analysis by Manchester United correspondent Carl Anka<\/p>\n

Brighton signed Carlos Baleba in August 2023 to be Moises Caicedo\u2019s successor. Two seasons later and he\u2019s looking like one of the Premier League\u2019s better midfielders.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a quality front-foot defender, roaming the middle of the park and snapping into tackles before an opponent has got comfortable on the ball.<\/p>\n

Baleba can tackle and tackle very well but he also has a brilliant appreciation of space and timing, enabling him to intercept opposition passes and put Brighton on the front foot.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Baleba is an above-average defender when his side are on the back foot. In the moments when Brighton lose the ball and need to retreat, he\u2019s often the man leading the hunt to regain the ball.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s on the ball, he prefers to keep things simple, focusing on retaining possession rather than making any line-breaking passes. He is fond of a switch pass (see his \u2018launched passes\u2019 rating above for an assessment of his passes over longer distances) but his attacking contributions are a bonus to Brighton\u2019s midfield, rather than a key component.<\/p>\n

(Photo: Richard Sellers\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United have made contact with Brighton & Hove Albion, via intermediaries, to explore the conditions of a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":125094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[76971,45885,3782,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-125093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-brighton-hove-albion","9":"tag-cameroon","10":"tag-manchester-united","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114984950371573533","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}