Manchester United\u2019s midfield picture has changed again after the arrival of Carlos Baleba, with the club now said to have reached an $88.5 million agreement with Brighton & Hove Albion. That follows earlier moves for Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos from Premier League rivals Aston Villa and Chelsea, decisions that helped offset Casemiro\u2019s departure and Manuel Ugarte\u2019s serious knee injury.<\/p>\n
The latest signing gives Michael Carrick a clearer sense of balance in the middle of the pitch. Baleba\u2019s price is notably lower than the $135 million valuation Brighton had previously placed on him, and United have been able to act after his stock fell over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n
At the top of the structure, Bruno Fernandes looks set to keep his place as the No. 10. He delivered 13 assists in the 17 league matches Carrick managed last season, taking his overall total to 21 and moving beyond the joint record set by Thierry Henry and matched by Kevin De Bruyne. Despite a quiet World Cup and preseason, Fernandes is expected to remain a regular starter in both the Premier League and Champions League.<\/p>\n
The real competition comes in the two deeper midfield positions. Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo were heavily used late last season, but Mainoo now faces a stronger battle for minutes because of United\u2019s new arrivals.<\/p>\n
Tielemans offers control, security in possession and creativity, while also carrying the qualities needed to open compact defences. Santos is viewed by some as the more complete player, but Baleba\u2019s mobility could make him the better partner for Tielemans, especially given that the Belgian is not a natural recovery defender.<\/p>\n
Baleba also brings ball carrying that Tielemans does not naturally provide. Santos may be the safer option, particularly after Baleba\u2019s disappointing 2025-26 campaign, but if Carrick can restore the destructive level Baleba showed in 2024-25, when he was one of the Premier League\u2019s best midfielders, he may yet force his way into United\u2019s strongest side.<\/p>\n
His athleticism makes him valuable in defensive transition and counter-pressing as well. Supporters said he was “free” when Ruben Amorim left Manchester at the start of the year, and Michael Carrick made use of Kobbie Mainoo\u2019s liberation.<\/p>\n
The then-interim manager said the Englishman “epitomizes this football club” after he signed a new deal, lasting until 2031, with the Red Devils in April. Mainoo then went to the World Cup, where he did not play a single minute in North America, and his extended break afterwards meant he was absent from preseason too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Baleba\u2019s arrival gives United a new midfield balance, with Fernandes, Tielemans and Mainoo all in the discussion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,2019],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-manchester-united-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}