“I’m a believer,” the viral song goes as Manchester United reached an agreement to sign Carlos Baleba from Brighton.
The £65m signing completes United’s much publicised midfield rebuild this summer. The club have followed a very clear strategy since the start of last summer, when they signed three attackers having identified a problem with goalscoring.
It came at the expense of strengthening their midfield, which has been a problem area at the club for nigh on 13 years. That part of the job was left for this summer.
United have now proceeded to bring in Andrey Santos from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa, as central midfielders, but many fans and pundits thought the club still needed an athletic runner who could disrupt play at the centre of the park.
It would appear the club agreed and proceeded to complete the deal for Baleba, which has led to cautious optimism among the United fanbase. Fans want to feel excited about their prospects in the new season, but at the same time their enthusiasm is tempered by memories of the pains of yesteryear.
But with a midfield of Santos, Baleba, Tielemans, Kobbie Mainoo and the current FWA player of the year Bruno Fernandes, Michael Carrick has at last least something more to work with than most managers at the club have over the past decade.
🚨💣 BREAKING: Brighton just scam Manchester United €80m for Carlos Baleba who has no goal contributions in 36 games last season😭😭 pic.twitter.com/yHuo2Ryltt
— Lallana_20 (@SalamLFC) August 21, 2026
It could be argued that some business is still needed at left-back, where the general feeling among supporters is that Patrick Dorgu is not a suitable backup, or even capable replacement, to Luke Shaw. Even though the former Leece man was originally a left-back before being converted to wing-back by Ruben Amorim and then a left winger by Carrick.
Centre-back still lacks the consistency and certainty of a league-winning side, and while United are stocked in attacking options, with Marcus Rashford, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Amad Diallo, Benjamin Sesko, Joshua Zirkzee and Tynan Thompson all at Carrick’s disposal, the uncertainty surrounding Sesko may prove to be a defining plotline in their season’s story.
The centre-forward was the club’s joint-highest scorer last term with 12 goals, but he is still something of an unknown quantity heading into this season. If he can lead the line and deliver consistently for United, then they could seriously compete for trophies.
Nevertheless, there are enough signs for the average United fan to be a believer.
