Man Utd make contact with Brighton over deal to sign £100m star

Man Utd believe Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba is worth no more than £70m (Picture: Getty)

Manchester United have approached Brighton over a potential transfer deal to sign their £100m midfielder Carlos Baleba, according to reports.

United have ‘made contact’ with Brighton via intermediaries to explore the conditions of a summer move, The Athletic’s David Ornstein has reported.

Posting the story on X, Ornstein credited Indykaila, with that transfer insider claiming Brighton want £90m plus 10m in add-ons to sell Baleba.

Man Utd, though, value Baleba at £70m and it’s thought the player will ask Brighton to reduce their asking price to secure a switch to Old Trafford.

The Athletic have stated that ‘all sides’ have recognised that a move may be ‘unrealistic’ at this moment in time – especially if the Red Devils sign Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig as expected.

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It’s believed United would need to sell a number of players before making a formal offer for Baleba. Offloading Alejandro Garnacho, Antony and Jadon Sancho – for example – is reported to be enough for United to make a bid.

United are keen to recruit a new No.6 ahead of the new Premier League season – and have made Baleba one of their main targets.

Brighton want £90m plus £10m in add-ons for Carlos Baleba (Picture: Getty)

Brighton have no desire to sell the 21-year-old midfielder, who is under contract at the Amex until 2028 with an option to extend by 12 months.

The Cameroon international joined the Seagulls in 2023 from Lille and has made 77 appearances for the south coast club to date.

There’s set to be updates in the ‘coming days’ if United’s interest in Baleba will develop or not.

Man Utd are keen to recruit a new No.6 ahead of the new season (Picture: Getty)

Baleba was named Brighton’s Young Player of the Season last term after a number of impressive performances.

He scored three Premier League goals in the 2024-25 campaign against Chelsea, Fulham and West Ham respectively.

What have Man Utd fans said about Baleba?

United supporters have been reacting to the news of the club’s approach for Baleba on social media.

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‘If we get Baleba and [Senne] Lammens on top of [Matheus] Cunha, [Bryan] Mbeumo and Sesko, this will have been a serious, serious summer window,’ @123cwahoo posted on Reddit.

‘Easily the best window we’ve had post-Glazers,’ @Immersivist added. ‘And I mean a window where we’re actually buying players with an idea of where they fit in.’

‘My head tells me that this is going to be prohibitively expensive for us to do this summer, and we may just be doing the legwork right now to then come back next year for him,’ @arnm7890 opined.

‘I’d think the idea of getting Baleba is so we can use Bruno [Fernandes] alongside him,’ @s_D088z said. ‘And then we look like a very potent threat to anyone in terms of attacking football.’

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