Manchester United have agreed a deal worth up to £70m for Carlos Baleba, twelve months after walking away from the same player because Brighton wanted too much for him. The 22-year-old is expected to sign a five-year contract and undergo a medical this weekend. United will pay £65m guaranteed with a further £5m in add-ons, and Brighton have negotiated a sell-on clause.
The gap between those two negotiations is the story. Last summer United were quoted a price above £100m. Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox broke off talks over concerns that Brighton were asking for more than the £115m Chelsea paid for Moisés Caicedo in 2023, and the move died there. The fee agreed on Friday evening is roughly £50m less than the one they refused.
What changed in the intervening year was the player. Baleba started 31 Premier League matches and came off the bench three more times in 2024-25, the season that established him as one of the most coveted young midfielders in the division. In 2025-26 that became 23 starts and eight substitute appearances, in a campaign when Brighton secured European football for only the second time in their history. By the middle of March he had played 24 league games without a goal or an assist.
Brighton's manager offered an explanation last September, after withdrawing Baleba at half-time in a 2-2 draw with Tottenham. The reason given was not injury but fatigue. "When a young boy reads there is interest from Manchester United with a big, big offer, it might affect him deep," Fabian Hürzeler said. "Even if he's not saying: 'It affects me,' maybe deep inside of him there is something." He added: "There are waves in the development. It's not always linear. He's not a machine."