📅 August 23, 2026
Carlos Baleba Passes Medical and Signs for United in £70m Deal
The Baleba deal has moved again, and this time it’s the bit that actually matters. Carlos Baleba has had his medical, and the paperwork between United and Brighton is signed on both sides. What’s left is the part that takes hours rather than days: the club posting the announcement.
Why the medical was the real hurdle
We flagged this ourselves at the weekend. Baleba has been carrying an ankle ligament injury from Brighton’s pre-season, and United know exactly how a medical can wreck a deal that looks finished on paper. They agreed everything with Ederson in June at around £39m and walked away in July when his medical raised concerns. That’s the one worth remembering when you read documents signed and assume it’s all over. It isn’t quite, but a passed medical on a player with a known injury is the step that actually matters, and it’s done.
The numbers, settled
The fee lands at £70m in total: £65m up front and £5m in add-ons, with Brighton also holding a sell-on clause. That’s higher than the package United had rejected earlier in the week, and it matches the reporting that put the final number nearer £70m than £65m. Baleba is signing for five years, through to 2031, with a further year’s option attached.
He still can’t play
Nothing about a signed medical changes the injury itself. Baleba isn’t fit, and the expectation is he’s weeks away rather than days, with mid-September floated as a realistic point of return. He wasn’t involved against Hull and won’t be for a while yet, so United are paying £70m now for a midfielder who helps them later in the autumn, not this month.
A year in the making, and the window isn’t done
This is Jason Wilcox’s deal as much as anyone’s. He’s wanted Baleba since United’s first approach a year ago, and he’s finally got him after being turned down at £65m and coming back with more. It’s United’s third midfield signing of the summer, after Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, and it pushes the summer’s midfield spend past £150m.
What it doesn’t change is the other hole. No defender has arrived all window, Luke Shaw remains United’s only senior left-back, and there are ten days left before deadline day. Getting the man they’ve chased for a year over the line is a real result. Getting through the rest of August without touching the back line at all would undo a lot of the good feeling around this one.