Manchester United have signed Carlos Baleba from Brighton for £65m plus £5m in add-ons, but an ankle ligament injury is expected to keep him out until mid-September. United are paying for upside as much as present level, and the move says plenty about how they view their midfield rebuild.

United's case for the signing

Baleba's 2024/25 numbers explain why United pushed through the deal. He topped 34 kilometres per hour and posted 92 tackles and interceptions combined, a mix of pace and ball-winning that gives him a very different profile from a neat passer who stays deep and waits for the game to come to him.

Jason Wilcox called him "an elite midfielder with immense potential to develop further" and said he brings "a unique combination of qualities that will really complement our squad." That fits the club's logic. Baleba is only 21, and even last season his impact was not just built on recovery work. He averaged 6.66 across his last five Premier League matches for Brighton and played 362 minutes in that run.

The injury and the start date

The ankle issue is the immediate catch. Baleba arrived with an ankle ligament injury, and the current expectation is that he will not be available until mid-September. That leaves United paying a big fee for a player they cannot use straight away, which will annoy some supporters, even if the club clearly think the longer view is the right one.

There is also a development argument behind the transfer. Roberto De Zerbi said Baleba was "perhaps not ready to play in the Premier League yet, but he will be a great Premier League player." Baleba later said De Zerbi gave him time for his adaptation, and that caution helped Brighton bring him along rather than force the issue too early.

The paperwork delay on the announcement sat alongside a summer in which Brighton had already shown they would wait for the right valuation before selling. The club wanted more than Chelsea received for Moises Caicedo before sanctioning a move, so the pause around Baleba was not especially surprising. What matters now is that United have a midfielder they rate highly, even if they will have to wait a few weeks to use him.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →