Brighton star Carlos Baleba is wanted by Manchester United
Manchester United are stepping up their efforts to land Carlos Baleba at the request of head coach Ruben Amorim, with a report revealing the type of offer that is being prepared.
Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Baleba has emerged as the top target for Man Utd now that Slovenian striker Benjamin Sesko has been captured from RB Leipzig. United need a new player who can take their midfield up a level and Baleba has been identified as the dream option.
United know it will be a difficult deal to negotiate, given Brighton rarely sell on the cheap and the fact Baleba is highly valuable, but they are ready to try regardless.
According to The Independent, Amorim is determined to see Baleba arrive at Old Trafford this summer and is ‘pushing’ United chiefs to get the deal done.
Now that the centre-forward and No 10 positions have been strengthened with the arrivals of Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, Amorim is gunning for a top-class central midfielder to ‘accelerate his rebuild’, and that man is Baleba.
Despite previous indications the Cameroon international could be signed for £100million, this latest report claims it will actually cost ‘around £120m’ to strike a deal.
That means United would have to smash both their transfer record and the British transfer record to land Baleba.
The United hierarchy are currently working on an opening bid that could tempt Brighton into a sale. They could offer ‘an initial £80m’ with hefty add-ons to take the bid beyond £100m.
United are also considering offering Brighton a player such as Jadon Sancho to bring down the overall cost. Although, Brighton accepting one of United’s unwanted players such as Sancho ‘is not seen as likely’ at this stage.
Much has been made of United’s need to sell players before they can buy further stars after Mbeumo and Cunha.
While that is still the case to some degree, The Independent suggest that United actually have more money left to spend than was previously thought. This is because they have cleverly constructed the deals for Cunha, Mbeumo and Sesko in instalments, giving them some breathing room.
The sales of players such as Alejandro Garnacho, Sancho, Tyrell Malacia, Antony and Rasmus Hojlund would give United a major boost and help them to meet Baleba’s price tag with less problems.
Man Utd confident as fresh talks scheduled
TEAMtalk revealed last week that United are confident the 21-year-old wants to join after making contact for him.
We understand the Red Devils are willing to ‘blow their budget’ and break their transfer record to land Baleba at the earliest opportunity.
Reports claim that ‘new talks’ have been scheduled for this week as United director of football Jason Wilcox works hard to make the move a reality.
Baleba’s former Lille team-mate Leny Yoro, as well as his Cameroon compatriots Andre Onana and Mbeumo, are likely convincing him to make the switch.
That is according to David Ornstein. Both he and Laurie Whitwell spoke about the Baleba pursuit on Wednesday.