Baleba is a Manchester United player at last, and he cannot play until mid-September
United confirmed the Cameroon midfielder on Tuesday in a deal worth up to £70m, almost a year after Brighton priced him at £100m. An ankle injury means his likely debut is now after the next international break, not the derby on 13 September.
Aug 26, 2026
Manchester United have finally signed Carlos Baleba. The deal was confirmed on Tuesday evening, close to a year after they first asked Brighton about him, and it costs up to £70m: £65m guaranteed with £5m in add-ons. He has a five-year contract with an option for a sixth.
The one detail that stops this being a straightforward good week for United is that their new midfielder cannot play yet. Baleba hurt his ankle in pre-season and Sky Sports News understands he is not expected back in training until mid-September, with his competitive debut now more likely to arrive after the next international break — potentially against Tottenham on 10 October — rather than the Manchester derby on 13 September.
A saga that took nearly twelve months
United wanted Baleba last summer, when he was 21 and coming off a season that had made him one of the most admired defensive midfielders in the league. Brighton valued him at a reported £100m and nobody paid it. He stayed at the Amex, enquiries followed in January, and the price came down over twelve months rather than in one negotiation.
What happened in between is the reason this is not a risk-free purchase. Baleba’s numbers dropped last season. He played 35 times and spent part of the campaign away with Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations, and he never looked like the player who had broken out in 2024-25. United are paying for the midfielder they think he can be again, not the one who turned out for Brighton last winter.
He is United’s third midfielder of the summer
Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans arrived before him, which tells you how thoroughly United decided to rebuild that part of the pitch. Baleba is meant to be the specialist of the three, the one who wins the ball back deep and then carries it forward, and at 22 he is the one they expect to still be there in five years.
He joined Brighton from Lille in 2023 as a 19-year-old with, by his own account, very little English, and made 112 appearances for them. His farewell note to the club mentioned the nights at the Amex when he heard his name sung, which is not the standard departing-player copy.
On the signing itself he said joining United was “an incredible feeling” and that it was the club of his dreams, and he name-checked Michael Carrick, who took the head coach job permanently before this season and now has to work out what his midfield looks like once everyone is fit.
Carrick needs him sooner than mid-September
United’s season began with a 2-0 defeat at Hull on 22 August, the first time Hull have beaten them in the Premier League. Hull had 28 per cent of the ball and won anyway, which is precisely the kind of afternoon a Baleba is signed to prevent. United host Ipswich on Sunday, then get a fortnight without club football, and then City.
Brighton, for their part, put four past Aston Villa the day after that Hull match, and they have turned the £23.2m they paid Lille in 2023 into a guaranteed £65m. Replacing him is now their problem, and the window shuts on Tuesday.
The bet United are making
Signing a 22-year-old off the back of his worst season is either shrewd or expensive, and there is no way of knowing which for at least a year. Baleba has spoken about admiring Paul Pogba, Yaya Toure and Andres Iniesta, which is a fairly wide range of models for a defensive midfielder and probably the most interesting thing about him. United have bought the ceiling. Whether they get it is the question they have spent £70m on.