Man Utd target misses pre-season friendly as he would 'absolutely' want Old Trafford move

Manchester United completed their latest transfer deal on Saturday as Benjamin Sesko signed from Bundesliga side RB Leipzing in a deal worth up to £73.5m.

The Red Devils presented the striker to the Old Trafford faithful on Saturday ahead of a 1-1 draw with Fiorentina in their final pre-season outing. Ruben Amorim’s side open their Premier League campaign with a tough test against Arsenal, who have signed several players after finished second last campaign.

With deals for Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo already agreed this summer, United are now looking at their next moves to further bolster their squad before the September 1 transfer deadline.

Manchester World understands they could still sign a further two players as Amorim eyes a new goalkeeper and a more mobile midfielder. They have made an enquiry for Brighton and Hove Albion star Carlos Baleba.

The Seagulls do not want to sell him this summer but if the Red Devils can generate funds from player exits and find the money for a big offer, a deal could be done. Although it’s deemed unlikely at this point.

Carlos Baleba misses Brighton pre-season friendly on Saturday

Brighton beat German side Wolfsburg 2-1 in their final pre-season outing of the summer on Saturday. Baleba was absent amid the interest from United but he missed out through injury rather than because of transfer speculation, it has been reported on the south coast.

The Argus, which is a newspaper based in Brighton, says that Baleba has been struggling with a minor injury for a couple of weeks. Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler said on Saturday: "He trained today, he trained yesterday so we don’t want to take any risks but he will be back."

The report goes on to say that Brighton expect to generate a big-money sale for Baleba but they are not willing to sell the midfielder until next summer. He joined the Seagulls in 2023 as a replacement for Moises Caicedo, who made a British record move to Chelsea.

Carlos Baleba would ‘absolutely want’ Old Trafford move

Speaking on The Athletic FC Podcast, Andy Mitten - United We Stand editor and writer for The Athletic - said Baleba would ‘absolutely’ want to make the move to Old Trafford if given the chance.

He said: “I don't think that Baleba is an absolute guarantee purely for financial reasons. I think if you say now to United, ‘do you want him?’.

“That would be 'yeah', and if you said to the player, ‘do you want to join Man United?’ You would absolutely get a yes.

“You say to Brighton, you're going to give a player away for a nice cut-price deal, that is not happening, so compromise will be needed.

"Maybe some of Manchester United's players are attractive to Brighton, for example. With the players Manchester United are trying to move on, they'll likely to have to take a wage cut like Marcus Rashford did as well.

"And the agents as well, they'll have to take less than maybe they would have hoped for but this will all be trading we'll see in the next few weeks."