Manchester United have reached an agreement with Brighton & Hove Albion to sign midfielder Carlos Baleba for £70m, with the deal structured as £65m guaranteed and £5m in add-ons. Brighton have also secured a sell-on clause as part of the arrangement.

Baleba is set to put pen to paper on a five-year contract at Old Trafford and will undergo his medical within the next 24 hours. He becomes United's third midfield reinforcement of the summer, following the arrivals of Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans.

The 22-year-old Cameroonian joined Brighton from Lille in 2023 and went on to make 112 appearances for the club. He featured 35 times last season, though a spell on the sidelines came while he was representing Cameroon at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Baleba is currently nursing an ankle ligament injury sustained during pre-season training, but the problem is not expected to cause a lengthy absence.

A calculated gamble with high potential

Twelve months ago, Baleba was among the most sought-after young midfielders in the Premier League. His breakout campaign at Brighton had clubs across Europe taking notice, with United among those who identified him as a potentially transformative figure in the middle of the park. Brighton's reported £100m-plus asking price at the time, however, made a deal impossible, and Baleba remained at the Amex Stadium.

What followed was a difficult season. His performances dropped and, at his lowest points, Baleba bore little resemblance to the dynamic force who had turned heads so emphatically the year before. That dip in form makes this signing a risk — but one that United's profile of needs arguably demands.

United have lacked authority and defensive bite in central midfield. Baleba offers both. His athleticism, pressing intensity, and ability to carry the ball from deep would inject a level of dynamism and steel that Santos and Tielemans, for all their qualities, do not provide on their own.

His influences speak to an ambition that stretches beyond the purely physical. Baleba has cited Paul Pogba, Yaya Toure, and Andres Iniesta as players he admires, while Neymar and Ronaldinho rank among his favourite players to watch. There is a desire for self-expression woven into his game that hints at a ceiling far above where he currently sits.

At 22, Baleba still has the time and the raw material to fulfil that ceiling. United, in making this move, are betting on the player he can become — and on the evidence of his best moments at Brighton, that bet is far from reckless.