As Manchester United continue to ponder a move for Carlos Baleba, they may remember some previous quotes from ex-United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Carlos Baleba of Brighton & Hove Albion was linked with a summer move to Manchester United(Image: Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images)
The price on Carlos Baleba’s head was reportedly £100million during the summer transfer window just gone.
Having already spent close to £200m on Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko, Manchester United were unsurprisingly reluctant to part with such a huge some of money. The £89m United forked out to sign Paul Pogba in 2016 is still United’s record transfer, despite other big money flops coming and going at Old Trafford.
At the time, the former United academy star had reached the Champions League final, scoring and assisting at will for Juventus. Ruben Amorim’s side would have had to break the £100m barrier for the first time in United history to sign Baleba, a promising defensive midfielder who does not command the same reputation as Pogba did at the time he completed his move to Old Trafford.
The CIES Football Observatory states a “fair price” for Baleba is estimated to be between £65m and £75m. However, his value is only going to get larger, as Transfermarkt states his value was as low as £17m in January 2024.
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We are all through the looking glass, a world where three of the Premier League’s top five most expensive players are deep-lying midfielders (Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Declan Rice).
The latter is particularly significant, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted to sign Rice before his fee shattered the £100m barrier. In April 2021, a matter of months before Rice impressed for England in the Three Lions run to the Euro 2020 final, Solskjaer was interested in the then West Ham United ace.
Figures from Transfermarkt at the time stated his market value was hovering at around £52m, a price tag which was deemed to be too much by United. Similarly to Baleba, West Ham demanded £100m for Rice, with ex-United boss David Moyes making it perfectly clear he did not want to sell the midfielder.
Solskjaer wanted to bring Rice to Old Trafford(Image: Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
But as the Manchester Evening News revealed at the time, Rice had asked about Solskjaer and the club while playing alongside United stars with England, suggesting a move may have been possible at the time. If Rice made it clear he wanted to move to United, the price could have been negotiated down.
In March last year, Solskjaer made it clear he wanted to sign Rice while speaking to the Overlap. He said: “I really like him [Declan Rice] as a player – we discussed him a few times, and I think we would’ve done well with him in midfield.
“His legs, covering the pitch, and I think he improved a lot on his playmaking as well. Obviously, he would’ve cost some money, but we could’ve and should’ve gone for him.”
Baleba is quickly gathering momentum just like Rice was as a young midfielder(Image: 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Plc)
Energy is a huge problem for United and unless there was a huge fallout, Rice would still be anchoring the Reds’ midfield, perhaps as captain, if Solskjaer had got his way. Baleba would require a huge investment, but at the age of 21, his value is only going to grow.
Dithering and delaying may result in United being completely priced out or falling out of favour in Baleba’s mind, with other clubs such as Chelsea also previously expressing their admiration in the Cameroonian. Defensive midfield has quickly become, arguably, the most important position on the pitch.
Most of United’s struggles can be traced back to their difficulty to dominate the midfield. A long term solution in Baleba may be within their reach, but they must act fast if they want to avoid missing out on another gem, just as they did with Rice.
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