Carlos Baleba: Why United are not pushing harder revealed

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The Peoples Person

3 July 2026

Manchester United

may face further disappointment in their search for a Premier League-proven star to replace the departing

Casemiro

Ederson

has already been signed, but the

Brazilian

was

added to increase the squad’s depth

rather than him being the

ideal defensive midfield successor

Elliot Anderson

and

Sandro Tonali

were the top two choices, but the Red Devils were priced out of both deals.

What really hurt INEOS was Tottenham Hotspur’s

late hijack of the Mateus Fernandes deal

, with Spurs

blowing United out of the water

with their bumper offer.

With almost all midfielders costing a bomb, Bournemouth have decided to

up their demands

for Alex Scott, who is reportedly

next on United’s radar

With targets falling off the board at rapid pace, the 20-time English league champions might be forced to go back in for a name they failed to sign last summer.

Carlos Baleba was identified as Casemiro’s successor by United’s co-owners and despite personal terms being agreed, Brighton & Hove Albion’s demands proved insurmountable.

The Seagulls had quoted £100 million to let the 22-year-old leave, and United must have thought that the asking price would reduce significantly given the Cameroonian struggled to replicate his best form for the entirety of last season.

The Manchester Evening News

have claimed that the reason why United are not pushing harder for

Carlos Baleba

is because Brighton still value their midfielder at the same price.

“Carlos Baleba is arguably the third midfielder United have stepped away from due to a high asking price in the last 12 months. They were interested in signing him 12 months ago, but were put off by Brighton’s demands of £100million.

“They remain interested in Baleba but there has been little sign of movement so far this summer. Despite the 22-year-old enduring a difficult campaign in Sussex, Brighton haven’t significantly dropped the price they want for a sale.”

If INEOS are unable to change Brighton’s stance, they have a couple of low-cost alternatives in the form of

Tyler Adams

and Sander Berge on their radar, or they could look beyond the Premier League.

Aurelien Tchouameni,

Eduardo Camavinga

, and

Ayyoub Bouaddi

are just some of the names that have been linked with a switch to United.

Feature image Ryan Pierse via Getty Images

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