I would do it. I just don't see Mainoo being a big success in this league. Serie A or La Liga, he can be excellent, but don't see it here, unfortunately.
Carlos Baleba
- Thread starter IrishRedDevil
- Start date
Its just the age of internet fans and the need to falsify knowledge.
99.99% of United fans definitely did not sit and watch 90 minutes of every Brighton game last season while paying any specific attention to Carlos Baleba,. Yet because we were linked with him this narrative was created where people are experts on every aspect of his game. Enough to be able to conclude that he is now playing poorly. So now people are paying attention to him, but by the barometer of him supposedly being this all conquering midfielder which some people who've never really watched hm play decided he was.
United fans watch United games and come to conclusions like "Bruno Fernandes is the problem"...yet supposedly we can trust hearsay knowledge on a Brighton player which is based primarily off some youtube clips.
I mean IS he playing that much worse than last year? Can any person on this forum actually honestly say they watched Carlos Baleba play last season and specifically monitered his performances, and have then done the same this season by way of comparison?
I watched a youtube video of him after we were linked with him. He looke decent in it. You can make a Youtube video that makes Jesse Lingard look like Lionel Messi.
Maybe he is just a promising player who has the attributes to potentially be a good player but isn't necessarily there yet, and that is the reason we left it late t test the water and prioritised other transfers?
Mainoo for Baleba? Unbelievable.
I would heavily object to this and I imagine most United fans would.
I'm genuinely interested as I'd have assumed the majority of the fan base would take the swap. If Amorim is staying (and it seems pretty clear he will be) then Mainoo is literally cash sat there for us to be spending elsewhere (CM or LWB ideally). Mainoo simply doesn't fit our system at all, he needs to be in a possession based team who minimise transitions so I can agree with the Spain/Italy suggestions. Brighton partially fit the bill as they also like sustained and controlled possession.
I'd take the swap in a heartbeat especially since we've Casemiro who is the perfect role model for Baleba should he sign.
My view however isn't just purely for Baleba only. I'd still like us to sell Mainoo for a similar profile player to Baleba/Casemiro (yes I'm aware they're not identical). I'm not even convinced Mainoo fetches that much in terms of a fee these days and no club overseas will pay what people are thinking. You'd literally be relying on Chelsea to splurge out as per or so.
I think we have to see how the season progresses for Baleba. Based on how the season has gone so far and recent performance, its an open question whether we should even pursue Baleba never mind swap him for Mainoo.
Maybe he meant that to lessen the blow a bit. For every african kid playing for clubs like Man United, Arsenal, Real Madrid is a dream and when one of those club came knocking it mustve felt like a dream come true moment for them. Imagine that dream got crushed because your parents club valued you as one of the best players in the world (hence the 100m price tag) yet at the same time still keeping you within a youngster level salary, must've been stung for you.
Exactly this. No one was raving about Baleba last season. There were many Brighton players receiving praise last season but I don't remember him being one.
Similar to Elliott Anderson now, he's having a good start to the season but I didn't hear him being brought up last season as one of the top players at Forest. He's doing really well now but United can't be throwing money at one season wonders.
After watching the last game against Brighton, Amorims comments on Mainoo fighting Bruno for a starting position 100% makes sense. Mainoo is coming on for Casemiro, trying to play the defensive position and is really struggling, he needs to be in the attacking third, as far as I remember that's where he has really shone.
If we want a quality proven DM I'd look at trying to sign Camavinga, then put in a cheap bid for Baleba in the hopes he can turn into a starter.
At the World Cup there certainly will be stand out CMs to choose from
Everyone was raving about Baleba last season. He even was touted as a key midfield signing for City in the January window when they overhauled their squad. The reason he wasn't mentioned here (apart from "dream midfield signing) was because he was touted as a "100m player" and thus being out of our reach.
As is the case in the world we live in opinions are all very polarised so he has a good season and he's the next Makelele and he has a poor start to the season and he's absolutely terrible! The reality is somewhere in the middle, a good young player with plenty of promise but not the finished article and the type of consistency you would expect.
Looking for other examples, see Mainoo and even Amorim!
Looking for other examples, see Mainoo and even Amorim!
Thought it was a really lower energy performance from him. Barely broke a sweat. Which I don’t get at all from a young midfielder whose main asset is running power.
He's certainly tanking his value at the moment. He strikes me as a player that is in the heartbreak phase. Could have moved to a top team, overpriced so it didn't happen and is now upset it hasn't and it's disrupting his form.
Some players struggle when they hit a setback, it's whether we believe he can rediscover his form. Personally if we were given the option of signing him in January for a discount then I'd jump at the chance.
Some players struggle when they hit a setback, it's whether we believe he can rediscover his form. Personally if we were given the option of signing him in January for a discount then I'd jump at the chance.
How big of a discount are you thinking? Because even with a discount from a £90-100m starting point could be extremely costly for a player that looked very average.
Everyone? Where?
I've searched this forum and cant see any mention of him before August. You'd have thought there would have been at least a thread on here about him.
£60-70m. I'd take that gamble. He was excellent last season, 9 games of poor form following a disruptive Summer window shouldn't suddenly erase last seasons form.
You are literally in his thread created in 2023.
Edit: Bit too quick here, didn't detect the sarcasm
I've not seen enough of him, to be honest. Just thought he looked extremely ordinary last game, and I'm a bit concerned about the summer apparently impacting his form so much.
Not a fan of players who get easy distracted. Wasn't Antony on strike before joining us.
Gimme hard workers over this attitude anytime. Mbuemo, Cunha, even Mount put his shift but he is just unlucky with injuries.
Gimme hard workers over this attitude anytime. Mbuemo, Cunha, even Mount put his shift but he is just unlucky with injuries.
There's something strange about the search function, because there's a thread with his name from 2023 (which shows if you filter "titles only"), but the posts referencing him early in that thread doesn't show when doing a general search. Like you I only find results from August 2025. I just remember people were raving about him last season (I only caught his match against City other than us I think and he was brilliant in that). Remember he was being linked with Chelsea and especially City in January and the fee quoted was "Caicedo money". We weren't linked with him at all (which I guess is why there's a lack of threads on him), which I presumed meant we couldn't afford him as he showed attributes we desperately need(ed).
Edit: Here's a thread from end of last season where he's being namedropped a lot from the get go:
https://www.redcafe.net/threads/uniteds-midfield-woes-2025-2026.488237/
Edit again: Just realized the thread about him I'm referencing is this one
Last edited:
It would make sense if we could bring him in Jan and send Mainoo the other way. Everyone gets what they want, Mainoo gets the playing time he wants in a decent side, Brighton get a good player for a player out of form and we get a long term target.
Yeah I'm thinking this is the play. 50m & Mainoo on loan for the rest of the season.
I think they only way we'd get him for that price is if there's a favourable buy option on Mainoo. I still think they're going to expect £60m+.
sometimes you see a cow in a field, and you think its better than your own cow
I never understand why clubs force players to stay if they clearly want to leave. It rarely ends well.
Brighton should try and work out some sort of deal in January.
Brighton should try and work out some sort of deal in January.
I'm not necessarily against cashing in on him, just not to swap him for Baleba. If we were to sell him, I'd rather we reinvest in a midfielder like Anderson or Wharton, as well as another wingback.
Baleba was open to joining Utd, but he didn't make any fuss about the transfer, didn't push for it, from what I recall.
Oh yeah completely, I'm not saying Mainoo should be cashed in for Baleba and Baleba only. I'm open to Mainoo leaving if it means we use the money to pursue someone who is more suited to that CM role for us (and/or a better LWB). It's not ideal as Mainoo is obviously very talented and is one of our own but it'd benefit the club and him mutually to allow such to happen. Maybe even include a buy back clause as a precaution.
I think I'd still prefer Baleba if I had to choose now ahead of Wharton (who I think also suits a more heavy possession based side but maybe Amorim wants us to transition to that over time) and Anderson (albeit I really like Anderson too).
We got another season out of young Ronaldo.
In this case, we were not willing to pay 100m, and rightly so
Bypassed by Anderson now, hopefully INEOS aren't still infatuated by this guy and go best of British
Get Stiller on your shortlist as well
Still will cost 90-100 million for either
Still my dream signing for us. Granted I haven’t seen a lot of Anderson play so can’t really compare the two, but I watched a lot of Brighton last year and Baleba was absolute quality. We should try and see if we can get him in January to avoid competition in the summer.
That's fine by me, rebuilds aren't cheap unless you get lucky like the scousers did with Gravenberch and Mac Allister
so which player would you prefer? Baleba or Anderson?
I think he has the talent to be a top player, but the amount suggested is a lot for the risk and the fact he needs time.
For around £50-60m I'd still give this guy a shot. Sure he's having a pretty bad season so far, but he's already shown what he is capable of and my money would be on him recovering his form in due time. He has all the attributes to flourish in our team and even beyond Amorim would be a good fit I'd imagine.
This comment deserves more appreciation .
I would like to add, maybe you should want two cows, so they can get best out of each other .
Anderson, ideally a ball progressor like Stiller to partner him as see us being priced out for Wharton.