Carlos Baleba is missing from the Brighton and Hove Albion squad for their final pre-season friendly, amid injury and reports of transfer interest from Manchester United.
Baleba, 21, missed the last three pre-season matches due to a knee injury picked up during the pre-season camp in Spain. Fabian Hurzeler said, after the 2-2 draw at Southampton, that he hoped the Cameroon international would be back in training this week.
Carlos Baleba is missing from the Brighton and Hove Albion squad for their final pre-season friendly, amid injury and reports of transfer interest from Manchester United. Photo: Mike Hewitt / Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Carlos Baleba is missing from the Brighton and Hove Albion squad for their final pre-season friendly, amid injury and reports of transfer interest from Manchester United. Photo: Mike Hewitt / Getty Images
However, the club are firm in the fact that Baleba is not for sale this summer. It is understood his absence from the squad against Wolfsburg is still injury-related, as he works his way back to match fitness.
A report from talkSPORT suggested the Seagulls will instead cash in on the August 2023 signing in 12 months time.
The article stated that Albion value the midfielder at £115m – the same figure Chelsea paid for Moises Caicedo in what became a British record fee in 2023.
As expected, Bart Verbruggen is back in goal for Brighton after recovering from a knee injury.
The team is otherwise unchanged from St Mary’s but Stefanos Tzimas is on the bench. Fellow Greek striker Charalampos Kostoulas is not in the squad. The pair joined this summer for a combined total of £53m but neither had featured at all before a behind closed doors friendly against Wolfsburg earlier on Saturday (August 8).
Goals from Brajan Gruda and Jeremy Sarmiento earned Albion a 2-0 win at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre – with Tzimas, 19, coming on in the 85th minute. Kostoulas was an unused substitute.
Supporters at the Amex will be hoping to get a first glimpse of the £22m man, signed from German second tier club FC Nürnberg.
Also in action during the behind closed doors match, was Jason Steele, Ferdi, Kadioglu, Tariq Lamptey, Oliver Boscagli, Diego Coppola, Joel Veltman, Jeremy Sarmiento, Andrew Moran, James Milner, Malick Yalcouye, Facundo Buonanotte, Brajan Gruda and Danny Welbeck.
Julio Enciso and Adam Webster will be out of action for a lengthy period due to serious knee injuries, whilst Solly March and Jack Hinshelwood are yet to return from minor issues.
Brighton: Bart Verbruggen, Mats Wieffer, Lewis Dunk, Jan Paul van Hecke, Maxim De Cuyper, Yasin Ayari, Matt O’Riley, Diego Gomez, Kaoru Mitoma, Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter
Substitutes: Tom McGill, Stefanos Tzimas, Malick Yalcouye, Jacob Slater, Charlie Tasker, Zane Albarus, Harry Howell, Freddie Simmonds, Nehemiah Oriola, Shane Nti
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