📅 August 21, 2026
Baleba to United: Here We Go, and the Fee Went Up
Fabrizio Romano has called it. Carlos Baleba is joining Manchester United.
His post reads: “BREAKING: Carlos Baleba to Manchester United, here we go! Verbal agreement in place between clubs. Improved bid sent today after £65m package rejected and player set to join the only club he wanted. Baleba, new #MUFC player soon.”
That’s the phrase Romano reserves for deals he considers agreed. It isn’t official, and we’ll come back to what’s still outstanding, but the substance of it is a club-to-club agreement that didn’t exist twenty-four hours ago.
The detail that changes the story
Read that post again and there’s a number in it that reframes everything: the £65m package was rejected.
United’s bid was £60m plus £5m in add-ons. Brighton said no. United went back with an improved offer today, and that’s what got the verbal agreement over the line.
So the fee is higher than £65m. TeamTalk’s reporting this week had the expected landing point at around £70m, with director of football Jason Wilcox driving the deal as a long-standing admirer of the player.
We published a piece on Wednesday arguing that £65m was too much for a player who managed nothing in the final third last season. That argument doesn’t get weaker now. United have paid more than the number we said was already steep.
What United are actually buying
The case for him is age and ceiling, and it’s a real case.
Baleba is 22, with 112 Brighton appearances since arriving from Lille in August 2023 and 16 caps for Cameroon. He’s a natural holding midfielder, which is the specific thing this squad has lacked since Casemiro left on a free and Manuel Ugarte had knee ligament surgery in June.
The case against is last season. In 31 Premier League appearances he recorded zero goals and zero assists, averaged a 6.62 match rating, and ranked in the 14th percentile among Premier League midfielders for touches. He started 23 games, down from 31 the year before.
His defensive volume also fell, though the raw numbers overstate it. Tackles dropped from 79 to 37 and interceptions from 46 to 29, but he played roughly a thousand fewer minutes. Per 90 the tackling falls from about 2.6 to 2.0 and the interceptions are close to flat. The collapse is real. It’s less total than it looks.
Two independent valuation models put him in the low fifties in euros before this deal: FotMob at €53.5m, Transfermarkt at €55m. United are paying comfortably north of that.
What’s still outstanding
Three things, and they matter enough to say plainly.
Neither club has announced anything. A verbal agreement between clubs is not a signed contract, and until Brighton and United confirm it, this rests on reporting rather than paperwork.
The medical hasn’t happened. Baleba is recovering from an ankle ligament injury picked up in pre-season. It isn’t expected to be a long absence, but United would be putting a player through a medical on ligaments that are still healing.
That’s not a theoretical concern at this club this summer. United agreed everything with Atalanta for Ederson in June at around £39m and pulled out in July when the medical raised concerns. A medical is the stage that has already cost them one midfielder.
He can’t play yet. Not tomorrow at Hull, and probably not for a couple of weeks after that.
The window isn’t finished
Romano’s reporting is that United expect to do more. Two positions are named.
A left-back, which remains the clearest hole in the squad. Luke Shaw is 31 and out of contract in June 2027, with a converted winger and two 19-year-olds behind him. Newcastle have said Lewis Hall isn’t for sale at any price. Eduardo Camavinga has told United he wants to stay in Madrid.
A striker, but only if Joshua Zirkzee leaves, which Romano describes as a real possibility. Juventus have been working on a loan with a potential obligation to buy.
Baleba takes United’s midfield spending this summer past £150m, after Andrey Santos at around £50m and Youri Tielemans at £35m. No defender has been signed at all.
Where this leaves it
The position we’ve held all week hasn’t changed, and the news doesn’t change it: this is the right position and a questionable price, arrived at fourth in line after Ederson failed a medical, Mateus Fernandes went to Tottenham for £85m and Elliot Anderson was missed.
What’s genuinely good about it is the age. At 22 with a proven 2024/25 season behind him, United are buying a decade rather than a stopgap, and Wilcox has wanted him for over a year rather than a fortnight. If Baleba rediscovers the form that had him fifth among Premier League midfielders for interceptions two seasons ago, nobody will care what the fee was.
If he doesn’t, United will have spent £70m on their third midfielder while Shaw plays another full season at left-back with nobody behind him.
Eleven days until the window shuts on 1 September. Hull City away tomorrow, 12:30 UK and 7:30 in the morning Eastern, and Baleba won’t be involved in that either.
We’ll update this page when the clubs confirm it.
Source: Fabrizio Romano, via The Peoples Person.