Manchester United wanted to sign Carlos Baleba during the summer transfer window, and the Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder was keen on the move to Old Trafford
Carlos Baleba arrives before a Brighton and Hove Albion match
Carlos Baleba was keen on signing for Manchester United in the summer
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Carlos Baleba posted about coming to Old Trafford hours before Manchester United host Brighton & Hove Albion in a now-deleted post.
United play Brighton two months after trying to sign Baleba during the summer transfer window. The midfielder was keen to make the move, but a deal proved too difficult to do before deadline day.
Brighton valued Baleba at around £100million and have him under contract until the end of the 2027/28 season. However, the player appears unlikely to stay put for the long term, and United could revive their interest next year, either this winter or the coming summer.
This match was always likely to ramp up transfer talk around Baleba, and his Instagram account hardly helped matters on Saturday morning. Hours before kick-off, a standard matchday graphic on his story included the caption "Coming to Old Trafford," punctuated by a face with tears of joy emoji.
Within minutes, the image was removed and reposted without the caption. However, screenshots of the original graphic continue to circulate on social media.
Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler spoke at length about Baleba during his pre-match press conference. "It's also the next step for him as a person, for him as a personality, to overcome these rumours, to overcome this noise," Hurzeler said.
"Because, in the end, it's, it's only noise that tries to distract him from performing for us, for Brighton. He really has to focus on the things he can influence, and he can't influence the rumours; he can't influence the noise around him.
"He can only influence the things he's doing on the pitch, how he asks for the ball, how he's positioned when he receives the ball, how good his angles are, how much effort he shows against the ball, how intense he can be against the ball. That's the main thing he needs to focus on; the rest is just noise."
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