Manchester United have been linked with Carlos Baleba (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Manchester United reportedly face paying as much as £115m for the potential transfer of Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba.
The Cameroon international has shone during his time at Brighton and has recently been the subject of an enquiry from Man Utd.
That’s according to journalist Ben Jacobs, who has added that the Red Devils did not receive a response on Baleba’s asking price.
However, as per the X post below, it seems the Seagulls view Baleba as someone who could command a fee of as much as £115m by next summer, as was the case when they sold Moises Caicedo to Chelsea…
“Brighton’s preference is to keep Carlos Baleba until at least summer 2026,” Jacobs posted. “Manchester United have made an enquiry via intermediaries and were not quoted a price. The Brighton hierarchy believe Baleba can be worth as much as Moises Caicedo one day, who the club sold to #CFC for £115m.”
Carlos Baleba to Manchester United transfer could cost inflated fee
Baleba is undoubtedly a huge talent, but even Caicedo probably wasn’t quite worth what Chelsea ended up paying for him.
In short, it looks like the Blues’ deal for Caicedo has majorly inflated the market, leading Brighton to think they can demand slightly unrealistic fees for their star names.
It remains to be seen if United will end up paying quite that much for Baleba, or perhaps move on to other more affordable targets instead.
Man United should be careful about over-spending on Baleba
MUFC have been stung a few times in recent years after wasting money on poor signings like Antony, Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund.
Even before that, there have been other expensive flops like Paul Pogba, Angel Di Maria and Harry Maguire in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
Baleba could be a good fit for a top club like United, but it will be interesting to see if Brighton can get such a huge transfer fee again.
United will surely want to show they can’t be forced into over-paying again after getting so many of their signings wrong in recent times.
