Manchester United firm up personal terms with Carlos Baleba as the gap with Brighton becomes the only thing left
Manchester United have firmed up personal terms with Carlos Baleba ahead of the summer window, with reports late on Tuesday confirming the verbal agreement first struck in 2025 is still in place. Brighton remain the obstacle. The 22-year-old Cameroonian midfielder is the player Old Trafford want at the base of next season’s engine room, and the two clubs are nowhere close on a fee.
Fabrizio Romano broke the latest update on Tuesday night. United and Baleba have an understanding on salary, contract length and the role he would play at Old Trafford. Brighton have not changed their stance on what it takes to do business and are confident they can get something around 80 million euros, while United’s internal valuation is closer to 50 million pounds.
A deal that has been in the post for nearly a year
The first round of this story played out last summer, when United pursued Baleba and reached an agreement with the player before walking away from Brighton’s asking price. The Cameroon international has not pushed publicly to leave but his preferred next step is United, and the personal terms agreed twelve months ago are reported to still be valid.
Baleba has continued to develop in the meantime. He has played the full middle-of-the-park role under Fabian Hurzeler this season at Brighton, and Brighton’s recruitment record means they will not blink on the price tag. The Albion have been taken to the bargaining table on Mac Allister and Caicedo and have ended up roughly where they wanted to be each time.
Why the gap might close
The gap between 50 million pounds and 80 million euros is real but not impossible. United are working with a budget that has to cover at least one striker and one centre-back, and Baleba is the position they have to nail. The expectation around Old Trafford is that the two clubs end up around 70 million pounds when the talking actually starts in June, with the structure of the payment and add-ons doing the rest of the work.
Baleba would not arrive alone. United have also been linked with Real Madrid’s Aurelien Tchouameni, who is in his own contract conversation with the Bernabeu, and the working assumption inside Old Trafford is that one signing in central midfield is non-negotiable. Baleba is the cheaper option, the younger option, and the one whose camp has already done the personal-terms work.
Brighton’s patience and United’s timing
Brighton can afford to wait. They are not in financial trouble, the player’s contract has time on it, and selling at peak value to a Premier League rival is not in their playbook unless the offer makes them. United have a different clock. The Premier League season has not gone the way Old Trafford planned, the squad rebuild needs visible signings, and a midfielder who has already chosen the club is the easiest part of the window to land.
For Baleba, a transfer to Manchester would be the move that takes him from one of the most respected developmental setups in the Premier League to the spotlight he has been preparing for. For United, it would be the start of the kind of summer the club has been promising for two seasons. Whether the deal closes in June, July, or at all, the framework is in place. The fee is the rest of it.
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