Premier League 'big six' club in need of midfield reinforcements? Look no further than Brighton and Hove Albion!
The Seagulls' exceptional, no-stone-unturned recruitment has long been a difference-maker for them in England's top flight.
Tottenham parted with £30 million to sign Yves Bissouma in summer 2022. Brighton also lost head coach Graham Potter to Chelsea that year, but they powered on to new heights under Roberto De Zerbi.
Moises Caicedo and Alexis Mac Allister's wonderful performances were the spark to Brighton's continued rise. Liverpool came calling for Argentine World Cup winner Mac Allister, paying an initial £35m for his services in June 2023, while Caicedo joined Chelsea in a gargantuan £115m deal two months later.
Two weeks after Caicedo's switch to Stamford Bridge, Albion completed the unheralded £23.2m signing of Carlos Baleba from Lille. He might just be the best of the bunch and could soon have a price tag to match.
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How good is Carlos Baleba?
Baleba is considered one of the brightest talents not just in the Premier League but European football as a whole. It's no surprise, then, that as they power on with a rebuild under Ruben Amorim, Manchester United have designs on the player, although it is likely to take a fee in the region of Chelsea's outlay for Caicedo to get the deal done.
United and Baleba was a story that rumbled on throughout the summer transfer window in 2025. On August 6, The Athletic's David Ornstein reported United had made contact with Brighton via intermediaries to explore the possibility of signing Baleba, who turns 22 early in January.
United's outlay in excess of £200m to bring in Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko as attacking reinforcements over the summer necessitated an exit for wantaway stars Alejandro Garnacho and Jadon Sancho to make the move for Baleba even possible, while Marcus Rashford joining Barcelona on loan helped save a huge amount of money in wages.
Manuel Ugarte, Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro are United's current options in the middle of midfield, while Bruno Fernandes has been deployed deeper in Amorim's preferred 3-4-2-1 setup after the arrivals of Cunha and Mbeumo. Yet United are keen to bolster that area of the pitch, especially with Casemiro expected to leave when his contract runs out at the end of the season, and neither Ugarte nor Mainoo convincing Amorim to give them more game time.
Carlos Baleba best position
Baleba is an all-action, ball-winning central midfielder and is being targeted by United for this purpose.
On occasion, he has played at centre-back and his ball-carrying ability would feasibly make him a candidate to feature as an alternative in Amorim's back three.
He would also be adept in a midfield trio should Amorim continue to experiment with the sort of deviation from his favoured system that he used in the win over Newcastle United on December 26.
Carlos Baleba contract
Brighton are in a strong position in the Baleba negotiations. His contract runs until June 2028, plus an option for a further year.
Negotiations for a player with more than two years on their current deal give the player's current club lots of leverage, as they are in a position to remain steadfast and keep the player should their valuation not be met.
According to Capology, Baleba is on a basic wage of £12,500 per week.
Carlos Baleba Brighton stats
Baleba had made 77 appearances across all competitions for Brighton coming into the 2025/26 season, scoring four goals. He has played a further 16 times in the current campaign, as of December 28.
However, it is statistics that measure breaking up opposition play and driving his own team forward where he excels.
The Opta rankings collated below are drawn from all midfielders who played in the Premier League in 2024/25, while the FBRef percentile rankings are amongst all Premier League midfielders across the season.
Carlos Beleba 2024/25 Premier League stats
| Number | Opta Rank | Percentile | |
| Interceptions | 46 | 5th | 91st |
| Recoveries | 197 | 5th | 91st |
| Tackles | 79 | =18th | 70th |
| Tackles won | 46 | 17th | 68th |
| Total carries | 415 | 18th | 58th |
| Progressive carries | 200 | 18th | 58th |
| Progressive carries +10 | 87 | 20th | — |