Football
Exclusive: Tottenham Hotspur Join Manchester United in Race to Sign Brighton Midfielder Carlos Baleba
Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United are both vying for Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba in the upcoming transfer window. Man United prefer him, but Spurs are making moves to secure a deal. Baleba is highly rated and could be a significant signing for either club.
Wolverhampton Wanderers FC v Brighton & Hove Albion FC - Premier League by Neal Simpson/Allstar | Getty Images
Exclusive: Tottenham Hotspur Join Manchester United in Race to Sign Brighton Midfielder Carlos Baleba
Tottentham Hotspur have joined the race to sign Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.
But our sources understand Manchester United is the 21-year-old Cameroon international preferred destination when the January transfer window opens.
Beleba, now in his third season with the Seagulls, is highly-rated by United boss Ruben Amorim.
But Spurs manager Thomas Frank is an admirer and the North London club have already reached out about the possibility of striking a deal.
Baleba has been a mainstay of Brighton’s starting XI for the past two seasons and the club were quick to ward off interest from the Red Devils towards the end of the summer transfer window.
In order to make the deal happen it is understood United will likely sell Brazil international Casemiro, a player they have been trying offload because of his hefty £300,000-a-week wage.
At 33 Casemiro is past his best respectively and this season looks to now be his last at Old Trafford.
Portuguese boss Amorim is on the lookout for a younger demographic of player to strengthen his squad – and Baleba definitely fits that bill.
WHOLESALE CHANGES
United are also then can sell wantaway winger Jadon Sancho when the transfer window re-opens, understandably keen to cash in on the whopping £73million price tag they paid for the England international.
Sancho is currently on loan at Premier League rivals Aston Villa, who are believed to be paying 80 per cent of his £250,000-a-week wage.
Seagulls boss Fabian Hurzeler would love to keep Baleba, but the German coach is realistic that the club would likely accept a hefty transfer fee, with other targets already in the pipeline.
Baleba joined the Seagulls in a deal worth £25million in August 2023 and has three years left on his original five-year contract.
The former Lille ace has played four Premier League games for the Seagulls so far this season, but whether he stays beyond January is now a major talking point.
Neil has been a journalist for longer than he'd care to remember, having written for national newspapers and respected publications for over 25 years. For the last three years he has worked freelance for BBC Sport, working on the production desk as a sub-editor and also as a writer, covering a whole range of sports.