Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans, and now Carlos Baleba? The Brighton midfielder could be joining Manchester United. If he does, he’ll be a popular arrival.
It would appear Manchester United’s midfield rebuild is almost complete. Having already signed Carlos Baleba is reportedly close to becoming their third midfield reinforcement.
United’s midfield depth – or lack of – has been a source of frustration among United fans over the past decade or so, but it seems they are heading into the 2026-27 campaign with options and balance. The expected arrival of Baleba is key to that.
It isn’t a name that’ll be new to United supporters. The club’s admiration for Baleba was a poorly kept secret, having pushed to sign him last summer only to be reportedly put off by Brighton’s £100 million valuation.
After a somewhat underwhelming 2025-26 season, Baleba’s price seems to have come down considerably, with United said to be closing on a deal with Brighton worth about £65m.
It’s still a lot of money, especially considering Baleba’s dip last season, but the going rate for a decent Premier League-proven midfielder has soared in recent times. And if the Cameroon international can return to the level he showed in 2024-25, £65m or thereabouts would represent extremely good value.
His 2025-26 season is something of an elephant in the room, however.
Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler suggested early in the campaign that United’s attempts to sign Baleba might have affected him mentally and therefore subconsciously impacted his form. He completed 90 minutes in the Premier League just once prior to heading off for Africa Cup of Nations duty in December.
Cameroon coach David Pagou referenced Baleba was going through “family problems” when he met up with his national team ahead of that absence from Brighton. In his opinion, some “mental recovery” was necessary for Baleba, and although he turned in some impressive performances at AFCON, he was in and out of the team upon returning to his club.
It would be unfair to discuss Baleba’s form in 2025-26 without alluding to the problems he was seemingly contending with. It’s only natural for performances to be impacted by off-field matters, especially in a young player, and there’s no doubt his output was down in many areas last term.
But none of this should detract from the level he reached in 2024-25, the campaign that saw him pique United’s interest.
Baleba excelled as Brighton’s midfield engine that season. He’d sweep up loose balls to turn possession over, and he’d get them on the front foot, mostly via his ability to burst forward like a raging bull.
His quality carrying the ball was probably the most notable feature of his repertoire, helped by impressive strength that has been baked into his game ever since he was a kid. Even before he joined the renowned Brasseries du Cameroun academy as a teenager, his father – a former player himself – set Baleba training programmes that required lots of running (“for several hours”) and unforgiving weight training. His father later became one of his coaches at the academy, leading to yet more physical training regimes.
He also had “truck tyres” at home that he used in drills to aid agility. Coincidental or not, when you watch him in full flight now, this background is evident in his makeup as a player.
That power is most recognisable in his trademark bursts forward and his role as a progressor via ball carries. On average, he progressed the ball 5.2 metres up the pitch per carry in the Premier League in 2024-25, which only six nominal defensive midfielders (900+ mins) could better.
Among the same group of players, he ranked fourth for progressive carries (in-possession movements that take the ball at least 5m upfield) on a per-90-minute basis, with his 6.7 putting him behind only Manchester City and Liverpool players.
Similarly, just three defensive midfielders could better his 2.9 progressive carries of at least 10m in length, highlighting just how impressively frequent those driving runs were when compared to his positional peers.
Obviously, metrics relating to progressive carries can be a little inflated for players in more defensive roles as they tend to play in less congested areas of the pitch with more space to run into. But Baleba’s statistical output here feels reflective of the type of player he is, supporting the eye test.
Baleba’s desire to carry the ball forward makes up for any perceived shortcomings in his progressive passing, as he isn’t especially incisive.
For instance, in 2024-25, 11.8% of his passes were categorised as line-breaking – that was under the average (12.4%) for nominal defensive and central midfielders (900+ mins). That then dropped to 8.7% last season, the 11th lowest among the same group of players.
Additionally, only 22.7% of his passes were played forward in 2024-25, comfortably below the average (28.0%) among defensive and central midfielders (900+ mins). This decreased to 20.5% in 2025-26, putting him bottom of the rankings for the same criteria.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that Baleba can be expansive with his passing. Only 10 central and defensive midfielders attempted more long passes than him in 2024-25, and his 57.1% completion rate was better than average. His total dropped last term, though his accuracy was similar (56.5%).
He clearly does have the vision to identify more difficult passes, but generally he operates safely – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. United already have Tielemans, Santos, Mainoo and
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