Carlos Baleba

I think it's all generated from his camp. I think we're out of this "race" since we signed Santos and the Tielemans signing was a nail in the coffin. I don't think we're going for another young CM, we are already quite young in that position now.

I think Carrick is likely to have Mainoo as starter in that #6/deep playmaker role, given how well Mainoo did for him last season. Then the player next to him will need to compliment him, skills-wise and in experience. Like Casemiro did last year. Hence the signing of Tielemans made sense. He's both more attacking and more experienced. Santos will replace Mainoo in some games and then Mount will replace Tielemans. Maintaining that difference in skill set and experience.

I don't see Baleba displacing Tielemans to play next to Mainoo. He is currently a worse player than Tielemans (who is at his peak), he is much less experienced and is coming off a bad season too. Carrick will not be starting UCL and EPL games with a midfield that has an average age of 21, I don't think. And you don't spend 70-80m to have a player fighting for minutes with Mount ffs. And Carrick seems to like Mount.
 
Would Brighton really refuse to sell him if he throws a hissy fit again? I don’t think that’s in their best interest. If we make a suitable offer (say 60 million) and he pushes for move (maybe even hands in a transfer request) then I think they’d sell. I think this might be a deadline day move.
 
ron86 said:
No, 30-40m wouod be worth risk(never going to happen with Brighton) 70m+ on someone off the back of an awful season is madness unless you're city with unlimited pots of cash
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For all those flogging this narrative, can I ask for some elaboration of why it is so relevant that he had a poor season? Is he a different person? Are you concerned that an injury has changed him? Are you concerned that he is now past his peak (at 22)?

I’m not saying it is totally irrelevant, but the significance of it is being hugely overstated in my opinion. I feel like it just sounds like the right thing to say, but I’m not convinced the rationale is as secure upon scrutiny. I think a poor season is a concern for a prospective player, but that is usually because it is attached to a concerning root cause. An Alexis Sanchez or Mason Mount who had both had injuries before joining would be a worry because it’s an obvious question as to whether or not their bodies had the same capabilities. A 30 year old would leave you to wonder whether he may be over the hill.

Now there COULD be a concerning issue with Baleba, because you and I are not informed enough to know of the root cause. That said, a player who has been a top prospect, who caused Brighton to pay almost £30m for him after less than 20 games for Lille, who then transferred that promise to the PL level, putting in dominant performances against United, City, Liverpool and Chelsea all before 22 and has not suffered any serious injury. If we have been tracking that player since his days in France, which we have - I do not see why a dip in form, at 21/22, would be hugely concerning at all. You have some reds rating Collyer highly and he hasn’t even gotten started yet at 22, let alone all the experience Baleba has amassed.

I think I’d be doing that background research that we tend to do, speaking to people close to the player to try to understand the character etc, and if something comes up that alarms us, then walk away. If not, then he’s way too young and has already shown way too much in his career for his form to concern me. And even then - I can still point to impressive performances last season.
 
Rozay said:
For all those flogging this narrative, can I ask for some elaboration of why it is so relevant that he had a poor season? Is he a different person? Are you concerned that an injury has changed him? Are you concerned that he is now past his peak (at 22)?

I’m not saying it is totally irrelevant, but the significance of it is being hugely overstated in my opinion. I feel like it just sounds like the right thing to say, but I’m not convinced the rationale is as secure upon scrutiny. I think a poor season is a concern for a prospective player, but that is usually because it is attached to a concerning root cause. An Alexis Sanchez or Mason Mount who had both had injuries before joining would be a worry because it’s an obvious question as to whether or not their bodies had the same capabilities. A 30 year old would leave you to wonder whether he may be over the hill.

Now there COULD be a concerning issue with Baleba, because you and I are not informed enough to know of the root cause. That said, a player who has been a top prospect, who caused Brighton to pay almost £30m for him after less than 20 games for Lille, who then transferred that promise to the PL level, putting in dominant performances against United, City, Liverpool and Chelsea all before 22 and has not suffered any serious injury. If we have been tracking that player since his days in France, which we have - I do not see why a dip in form, at 21/22, would be hugely concerning at all. You have some reds rating Collyer highly and he hasn’t even gotten started yet at 22, let alone all the experience Baleba has amassed.

I think I’d be doing that background research that we tend to do, speaking to people close to the player to try to understand the character etc, and if something comes up that alarms us, then walk away. If not, then he’s way too young and has already shown way too much in his career for his form to concern me. And even then - I can still point to impressive performances last season.
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Should we have kept Hoilund, or Sancho, or Antony, because hey, it's only a bad season, it doesn't matter.

It's not even like Baleba is some established world class player who had one bad season. It's as if some people are just desperate to sign young players because that's what they do on FM. There was less excitement over Ederson, who is way better and more experienced than Baleba.
 
AndySmith1990 said:
Should we have kept Hoilund, or Sancho, or Antony, because hey, it's only a bad season, it doesn't matter.

It's not even like Baleba is some established world class player who had one bad season. It's as if some people are just desperate to sign young players because that's what they do on FM. There was less excitement over Ederson, who is way better and more experienced than Baleba.
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Hojlund, Sancho and Antony never had a single great season in premier league. Baleba had.
 
AndySmith1990 said:
Should we have kept Hoilund, or Sancho, or Antony, because hey, it's only a bad season, it doesn't matter.

It's not even like Baleba is some established world class player who had one bad season. It's as if some people are just desperate to sign young players because that's what they do on FM. There was less excitement over Ederson, who is way better and more experienced than Baleba.
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Poor examples - they all came from outside the league and none of them ever showed great form in the PL.
 
Rozay said:
For all those flogging this narrative, can I ask for some elaboration of why it is so relevant that he had a poor season? Is he a different person? Are you concerned that an injury has changed him? Are you concerned that he is now past his peak (at 22)?
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Because many players have had 1 really good season and then never reached those heights again. He's not a different person, but maybe that's just the person he is. I would normally expect more than 1 good season, before paying 80m for a player.
 
A waste of time blabbering on about Baleba.
It’s just his camp saying, if Utd came back with an interest, he might be up for the move.
Utd haven’t approached his people or Brighton and Brighton aren’t desperate to sell.
Move on……,
 
MadMike said:
Because many players have had 1 really good season and then never reached those heights again. He's not a different person, but maybe that's just the person he is. I would normally expect more than 1 good season, before paying 80m for a player.
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For various reasons. Of course we need to be wary, I’m just saying that it is not necessarily terminal. I think it’s less likely that a player suddenly wasn’t good anymore than it is that the level he has shown before is still in there to be unlocked.
 
Posh Red said:
Don’t think that’s true at all
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I have scars defending Mainoo here.

Whether it's actually "most" -- which is defined as "greatest in amount, quantity, or degree", by which I'll take to mean at least 51% -- is doubtful, but there disturbingly were more than a few here who have thrown shade at Mainoo for one reason or another. He doesn't get stuck in is typical condemnation; but my favorite is his supposed inability to spray long balls, that Mainoo is a short pass merchant.

To repeat myself, I'll concede that not more 51% of posters here who have commented on Mainoo have disrespected him, but there was a time during Amorim's tenure when there was definitely a strong anti-Mainoo brigade here. Hopefully that is a thing of the past now.
 
Surely "form" is a short term issue? Couple of months with a sustained dip in performance level maybe.

An entire season is something more, no?
 
What's the betting we come back to him in the end after being turned down by the plan A options
 
Ish said:
I thought he was really good 2 seasons ago?
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He was decent but not one of the best midfielders in the league. His form was still somewhat inconsistent but the assumption was that he would continue his upward trajectory. As it is its difficult to tell if he can return to that level let alone improve on it
 
Matt851 said:
He was decent but not one of the best midfielders in the league. His form was still somewhat inconsistent but the assumption was that he would continue his upward trajectory. As it is its difficult to tell if he can return to that level let alone improve on it
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Yeah, I can’t claim to have followed him that closely (either season), so have mostly been going on what I read here, reviews and the odd highlights reel.
 
Bondi77 said:
Well I can only say that your initial expectations were unrealistic if you thought that Baleba was going to be in the 30mil bracket as that is what the third midfielder will come in at.
It still could be the case but Tielemans would be the player that falls into that bracket.
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Tielemans price was low because of the clause, a player like him would normally command £50m+ in this market (and £70m+ if he were 2-3 years younger). We cannot measure prices of other players against this as it’s not representative of what PL proven midfielders should cost.

Santos is inexperienced with just a handful of PL starts under his belt, again it’s hard to measure Baleba against him as he’s at a different stage (even if talent wise there is probably not much between them).

Baleba would still be our most expensive midfield signing if we were to acquire him, I’m pretty sure. And that doesn’t necessarily mean he’d be overpriced or that he’d come here as the main midfield reinforcement (that is Tielemans).
 
lex talionis said:
I have scars defending Mainoo here.

Whether it's actually "most" -- which is defined as "greatest in amount, quantity, or degree", by which I'll take to mean at least 51% -- is doubtful, but there disturbingly were more than a few here who have thrown shade at Mainoo for one reason or another. He doesn't get stuck in is typical condemnation; but my favorite is his supposed inability to spray long balls, that Mainoo is a short pass merchant.

To repeat myself, I'll concede that not more 51% of posters here who have commented on Mainoo have disrespected him, but there was a time during Amorim's tenure when there was definitely a strong anti-Mainoo brigade here. Hopefully that is a thing of the past now.
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I mean.... when you think of Mainoo you don't really think of him as spraying balls or having creative passing. He has good give and go passing. I agree that he does get stuck in, the only issue related there is his ability to cover ground.
 
flameinthesun said:
I mean.... when you think of Mainoo you don't really think of him as spraying balls or having creative passing. He has good give and go passing. I agree that he does get stuck in, the only issue related there is his ability to cover ground.
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He's a great 5-a-side player. Cute and technical in tight spaces, nice quick short range passes. Whether he can scale it up to full size pitches is still to be determined. He definitely did better last year. He needs a team that can move up the pitch together nice and compact and controlled.

I'm still not convinced he'll end up being first choice this year, depending on our 3rd mid signing of course.
 
Drizzle said:
He's a great 5-a-side player. Cute and technical in tight spaces, nice quick short range passes. Whether he can scale it up to full size pitches is still to be determined. He definitely did better last year. He needs a team that can move up the pitch together nice and compact and controlled.

I'm still not convinced he'll end up being first choice this year, depending on our 3rd mid signing of course.
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I don't mind if he doesn't have great passing range if he could be creative with his short passing, but he isn't.
 
flameinthesun said:
I mean.... when you think of Mainoo you don't really think of him as spraying balls or having creative passing. He has good give and go passing. I agree that he does get stuck in, the only issue related there is his ability to cover ground.
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I'm not sure that's much of an issue, if at all. Kobbie covered ground fantastically in his last half-dozen appearances under Carrick, after being completely frozen out for almost a year under Amorim. He covered ground fantastically for England during the 2024 Euros, when his partnership with Rice was far more fruitful than Anderson's. Anderson has a great long ball, and he does cover ground well, but he just doesn't have the ability on the ball that Mainoo.

All of this is to say here, on a Baleba thread, that Mainoo would partner well with Baleba in linking play through Bruno. I'm not going to suggest that we should break the bank for Baleba, or that even all things being equal that Baleba should be at the top of the remaining shopping list for midfielders, but if we Tchouameni and Kone were to fall through Baleba would be a solid option for us to pull the trigger on. What I don't want to see, however, is us breaking the bank for him given that we have other pressing needs that can no longer be ignored, particularly LB.
 
MadMike said:
I think it's all generated from his camp. I think we're out of this "race" since we signed Santos and the Tielemans signing was a nail in the coffin. I don't think we're going for another young CM, we are already quite young in that position now.

I think Carrick is likely to have Mainoo as starter in that #6/deep playmaker role, given how well Mainoo did for him last season. Then the player next to him will need to compliment him, skills-wise and in experience. Like Casemiro did last year. Hence the signing of Tielemans made sense. He's both more attacking and more experienced. Santos will replace Mainoo in some games and then Mount will replace Tielemans. Maintaining that difference in skill set and experience.

I don't see Baleba displacing Tielemans to play next to Mainoo. He is currently a worse player than Tielemans (who is at his peak), he is much less experienced and is coming off a bad season too. Carrick will not be starting UCL and EPL games with a midfield that has an average age of 21, I don't think. And you don't spend 70-80m to have a player fighting for minutes with Mount ffs. And Carrick seems to like Mount.
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Do you think there is enough athleticism in that midfield? Tielemans and Mainoo aren't the quickest players. I feel we still need someone with speed and strength in there, and my choice would be Baleba if he can be gotten for a good price, if not then someone with a similar skillset.

I don't know of anyone else that would be available that offers what he does. I'm not saying that they don't exist, but it's a bit of a unicorn skillset. Adding Baleba to our midfield would mean that we are good in every area so we can adapt to any situation, in theory.
 
Damon1559 said:
Do you think there is enough athleticism in that midfield? Tielemans and Mainoo aren't the quickest players. I feel we still need someone with speed and strength in there, and my choice would be Baleba if he can be gotten for a good price, if not then someone with a similar skillset.

I don't know of anyone else that would be available that offers what he does. I'm not saying that they don't exist, but it's a bit of a unicorn skillset. Adding Baleba to our midfield would mean that we are good in every area so we can adapt to any situation, in theory.
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You can always come up with some area in which a 2-man midfield can be deemed to be insufficient. Casemiro at 33 was not particularly athletic, less than Tielemans in fact. He would be gassed form 60mins onward. Yet somehow, we did more than fine from January onwards, when Carrick took over and changed the system.

If anything I would argue that what the midfield is lacking the most, post-Casemiro, is height. Which is not solved either by Baleba (178cm / 5'10'') or Tielemans (175cm/5'9''). But if you know many 6 feet plus, fast, strong, agile, young, highly skilled, EPL-level midfielders who we can buy... then I'm all ears.
 
MadMike said:
You can always come up with some area in which a 2-man midfield can be deemed to be insufficient. Casemiro at 33 was not particularly athletic, less than Tielemans in fact. He would be gassed form 60mins onward. Yet somehow, we did more than fine from January onwards, when Carrick took over and changed the system.

If anything I would argue that what the midfield is lacking the most, post-Casemiro, is height. Which is not solved either by Baleba (178cm / 5'10'') or Tielemans (175cm/5'9''). But if you know many 6 feet plus, fast, strong, agile, young, highly skilled, EPL-level midfielders who we can buy... then I'm all ears.
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Berge has the height but unfortunately fails on the agile, young and highly skilled criteria unfortunately
 
Drizzle said:
He's a great 5-a-side player. Cute and technical in tight spaces, nice quick short range passes. Whether he can scale it up to full size pitches is still to be determined. He definitely did better last year. He needs a team that can move up the pitch together nice and compact and controlled.

I'm still not convinced he'll end up being first choice this year, depending on our 3rd mid signing of course.
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Is that still to be determined? :lol:
 
MadMike said:
You can always come up with some area in which a 2-man midfield can be deemed to be insufficient. Casemiro at 33 was not particularly athletic, less than Tielemans in fact. He would be gassed form 60mins onward. Yet somehow, we did more than fine from January onwards, when Carrick took over and changed the system.

If anything I would argue that what the midfield is lacking the most, post-Casemiro, is height. Which is not solved either by Baleba (178cm / 5'10'') or Tielemans (175cm/5'9''). But if you know many 6 feet plus, fast, strong, agile, young, highly skilled, EPL-level midfielders who we can buy... then I'm all ears.
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Yeah, I see what you mean. I suppose I'm a bit biased to what I want to see in the team.. I hadn't even given thought to the ariel battle any thought and I agree, we are lacking there as well.

I think with the last part is where the problem lies with the club. A player with that make up doesn't really exist. I'd say the closest, gettable player would be like Croadyman said, in Berge.

Having said that, I would still like to see Baleba signed but it has to be for a sensible fee which I can't see happening.
 
Saw someone mention the idea of Tielmans and Mainoo as a partnership and I’d never considered it as honestly the idea puts the fear in to me.

On the ball I’m sure they’d be fantastic but when moves break down I can see people just running through and away from them.

Surely it would be Mainoo or Tielmans paired with Santos or Baleba. Tielmans had Onana along side him doing the things that Tielmans could not and we have no one like that in the squad currently.

Actually how much for Onana, we need someone like that and someone who can carry the ball forward when it’s needed.
 
Baleba along with other potential targets are waiting on the Rodri domino effect. The moment that deal happens a number of other moves will follow. Doesn’t seem like the club are interested in him though, as it seems his agents are trying to sell him to United.
 
Giggsy13 said:
Baleba along with other potential targets are waiting on the Rodri domino effect. The moment that deal happens a number of other moves will follow. Doesn’t seem like the club are interested in him though, as it seems his agents are trying to sell him to United.
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What makes you think his agents are trying to sell him?

Theres been no brief that Brighton are open to offers like we hear from Manu Kone.
 
Uncle Mainoo said:
What makes you think his agents are trying to sell him?

Theres been no brief that Brighton are open to offers like we hear from Manu Kone.
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Because that’s how it was reported, his camp got in touch with United.

If the kid wants a move he will surely have to submit a transfer request.
 
Andersons Dietician said:
Surely it would be Mainoo or Tielmans paired with Santos or Baleba. Tielmans had Onana along side him doing the things that Tielmans could not and we have no one like that in the squad currently.

Actually how much for Onana, we need someone like that and someone who can carry the ball forward when it’s needed.
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While I suspect you’re right, let’s not forget we did OK with Mainoo sitting behind a very immobile Casemiro last season

Onana picked up a bad injury in the WC, and Villa have probably already sold more players than they’d have liked to this summer
 
Andersons Dietician said:
Saw someone mention the idea of Tielmans and Mainoo as a partnership and I’d never considered it as honestly the idea puts the fear in to me.

On the ball I’m sure they’d be fantastic but when moves break down I can see people just running through and away from them.

Surely it would be Mainoo or Tielmans paired with Santos or Baleba. Tielmans had Onana along side him doing the things that Tielmans could not and we have no one like that in the squad currently.

Actually how much for Onana, we need someone like that and someone who can carry the ball forward when it’s needed.
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I feel it could work in games where we are expected to dominate the ball like maybe Ipswich at home in second game of season. Still feel this guy is probably only just behind the Real duo on our shortlist. Most likely above Kone which I'm sure divides opinion as well.
 
croadyman said:
What's the betting we come back to him in the end after being turned down by the plan A options
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Think we are waiting on madrids siruation with rodri and how it effects tchouameni...who stays. We go for baleba....price still too high and end up with camavinga as cheaper.
If we forget injuries and dip of form, camavinga the ideal one probably for us...and maybe with deeper options now, niggling injuries less concern.....i still want baleba personally though...hes taking a step up and dying to come....the other two are dying to stay and lets be honest, its a step down...also just a feeling baleba become a star player here and fan favourite
 
jesperjaap said:
Think we are waiting on madrids siruation with rodri and how it effects tchouameni...who stays. We go for baleba....price still too high and end up with camavinga as cheaper.
If we forget injuries and dip of form, camavinga the ideal one probably for us...and maybe with deeper options now, niggling injuries less concern.....i still want baleba personally though...hes taking a step up and dying to come....the other two are dying to stay and lets be honest, its a step down...also just a feeling baleba become a star player here and fan favourite
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Yeah maybe he will
 
I really do not understand why we are entertaining the idea of signing one of these clowns from Real
They do not want to come to Utd and they want to stay where they are and the club have made it as clear as day that we only want players that want to come and play for Manchester United.
If we get Baleba in we will be bossing the midfield in the Premier League!
 
Bondi77 said:
I really do not understand why we are entertaining the idea of signing one of these clowns from Real
They do not want to come to Utd and they want to stay where they are and the club have made it as clear as day that we only want players that want to come and play for Manchester United.
If we get Baleba in we will be bossing the midfield in the Premier League!
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Until halftime, where he gets hooked for being crap.
 
Bondi77 said:
I really do not understand why we are entertaining the idea of signing one of these clowns from Real
They do not want to come to Utd and they want to stay where they are and the club have made it as clear as day that we only want players that want to come and play for Manchester United.
If we get Baleba in we will be bossing the midfield in the Premier League!
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Because Tchouameni is one of the best in World in his position, also the fact he would be happy to join the club if Real sell is a stance I'm absolutely fine with. Having said that I wouldn't be surprised if we end up signing this guy or Kone in the end anyway.
 
Him desperately wanting to join makes me want to sign him more so than other players. He’s a beast.

I’ll say it again, he needs to hand in a transfer request if he gets told the club want to sign him now.
 
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