After prolonged negotiation with Brentford to sign Bryan Mbeumo, Manchester United now seems to increase the speed at which they finish transfers while the end of the window is looming.
The last pre-season match of United against Fiorentina was used to show the new striker Benjamin Sesko, who signed at RB Leipzig for 74 million pounds Sterling. United and Newcastle both pursued the Slovenian striker, but Ruben Amorim’s team came first despite a lower salary.
The next transfer target of United seems to be a defensive midfielder, and Carlos Baleba from Brighton is the favorite choice of the club. Most United Affairs this summer, with the exception of SESKO, focused on the proven first league players because they are considered less risks, and Baleba meets this requirement with 61 premier league appearances to its credit.
Romano offers a Baleba update on weekends
On his YouTube channel, Fabrizio Romano revealed that United organized talks with the Baleba party this weekend. It seems that United is persistent in their quest for this agreement and spoke “again and again”, as recently as on Saturday, with the star’s camp.
At this stage, the talks mainly surround the player’s conditions to join the club, including the contract and the salary. At the start of last season, Baleba won £ 12,500 per week in Brighton, so that he could receive a major wage bump if this decision has passed.
It currently seems that a major point of collision in the agreement would be club negotiations. Romano added that United is aware of Brighton’s position and they know “it is still not something progressive, concrete or easy, they know that the Brighton wall remains very high”.
Despite Brighton’s resistance, United still has hope, and Romano summed up the current situation by saying “as the player does not close the door … Manchester United thinks they want to try”.
Brighton has become a club that identifies talents, develops them and sells them. Some of their best work with this strategy can be seen in their defensive midfielder department.
|
Brighton’s recent DM activity |
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|---|---|---|---|
|
Bissouma |
Caicedo |
Baleba |
|
|
Signed by |
LOSC Lille |
Independent |
LOSC Lille |
|
Sold at |
Tottenham |
Chélat |
Manchester United? |
|
Signed age |
21 |
19 |
19 |
|
Age sold |
25 |
21 |
21? |
|
Price signed |
15 million pounds sterling |
4.5 million pounds sterling |
23 million pounds sterling |
|
Price sold |
25 million pounds sterling |
100 million pounds sterling |
115 million pounds sterling? |
|
(* For future transactions reported) (all costs are excluded. |
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|
Athletics and TransferMarkt data |
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The table above shows Brighton’s success on this market since 2018, when they have signed Yves Bissouma. If Brighton receives the costs they wish for Baleba, they will have achieved around 197 million pounds sterling in seven years from defensive backgrounds (excluding clauses and additional modules).
Although Brighton still commands high fees, Bissouma and Moises Caicedo have been good transfers for their new clubs. Bissomua played the entire final of the Europa League last season, which saw Tottenham win his first major trophy since 2008, and Caicedo won the Europa conference league and the club World Cup with Chelsea.
While United may have trouble sign this window in Baleba without sales of major players or an agreement with a constraint, it can be worth doing everything for next summer. The midfielder seems to be one of the last parts of the team that Morim must fill, and with the development history of Brighton in this position, Baleba can be the missing room.
