Brighton & Hove Albion manager Fabian H\u00fcrzeler has conceded that Carlos Baleba might have been affected by transfer interest from Manchester United. United\u2019s approach for the 21-year-old was described as strong but evaporated after about a week, when Old Trafford accepted Brighton\u2019s asking price of over \u00a3100 million was beyond reach in a window that featured substantial spending elsewhere. Reports say United will look again in 2026.<\/p>\n
Since that interest surfaced, Baleba has faced extra scrutiny amid a slow start to the season. A knee injury has required the Cameroon international to play catch-up with his fitness, and there have been suggestions his focus has been unsettled by the attention from United. Baleba has also been named as the dream target of United manager Ruben Amorim. United have been linked to a number of alternatives, with many reports identifying Adam Wharton of Crystal Palace as a player admired inside Old Trafford.<\/p>\n
H\u00fcrzeler, who withdrew Baleba midway through the weekend\u2019s 2\u20132 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, emphasised the midfielder\u2019s age and the need for support from the club. \u201cEveryone has to understand with Carlos, he\u2019s a very young player,\u201d H\u00fcrzeler said after withdrawing Baleba midway through the weekend\u2019s 2\u20132 draw with Tottenham Hotspur . \u201cHe needs help from us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can only guess [whether United\u2019s interest has affected him]. For sure, when a young boy reads that there\u2019s interest from Manchester United with a big, big offer, it might affect him deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if he\u2019s not saying, \u2018It affects me,\u2019 maybe deep inside of him, there is something that affects him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s even part of the development, to understand when you play well and a big club comes, to keep pushing, and to stay humble, to stay at Brighton and make the next step as a team. And that\u2019s something we have to keep on working with him, and so, therefore, I can\u2019t give you a clear answer if it\u2019s really affected him or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
United\u2019s recent financial reports, which included record revenue, have encouraged hopes that a major midfield signing could follow. Scouts are working to establish whether Baleba will return to the top of the list when the January window opens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
H\u00fcrzeler warns Baleba may be unsettled by Manchester United interest ahead of potential January move<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[773,179,969],"tags":[216,1021,215],"class_list":["post-2990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brighton-hove-albion","category-manchester-united","category-premier-league","tag-adam-wharton","tag-amorim","tag-carlos-baleba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990","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=2990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}