Manchester United have completed the signing of midfielder Carlos Baleba from Brighton for a fee up to $95 million, to complete the Red Devils’ expensive midfielder makeover during the transfer window.
The 22-year-old Cameroon international is the final piece of the puzzle for Michael Carrick’s side after also adding Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos ($111 million combined) this summer. Put the new-boy trio alongside Bruno Fernandes and Man United’s midfield has gone from definite weakness to potential strength, at least one paper.
Why Man United’s midfield needed a rebuild, not just a refresh
Fernandes is fresh off breaking the Premier League’s single-season assist record with 21 last campaign as Man United finished 3rd after two terribly disappointing seasons down in 8th and 15th. The rest of the midfield was made up of Casemiro (33 PL starts), Kobbie Mainoo (16 starts) and a rotating carousel of Mason Mount (12) and Manuel Ugarte (8).
Casemiro ended up scoring nine goals last season (mostly from set pieces), but him and Ugarte were tasked with providing the defensive cover that gave Fernandes the freedom to win games in the final third. It worked well enough to get back in the UEFA Champions League, but Casemiro’s age (34, now at Inter Miami) and Ugarte’s lack of mobility (prior to tearing his ACL at the World Cup), and both player’s lack of forward passing, meant they were a band-aid solution that needed ripping off sooner rather than later.
That’s because this season, Man United have to win more games in which they dominate possession. They proved they can be a devastating attacking team with Fernandes feeding Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko and Amad Diallo, but they struggled terribly against opponents that defended deeper and flat out refused to give them space in behind, instead setting up their own counter-attacks and — you guessed it — taking advantage of Man United’s much slower defensive midfielders and defenders.
And that’s where Baleba comes in
Range, mobility, aggressive, ball-winning, front-foot defender. Just a few phrases that spring to mind about Baleba, and a few key attributes missing from Man United’s midfield for the last — oh, I don’t know — decade-plus. He’s anything but a smooth and refined technician back there — that’s Tielemans’ job — but if Carrick is to play with a lone defensive midfielder, which he will have to do in 80 percent of their games, then he needs an physical enforcer behind all that beautiful flair.
Baleba will have to read the game in front of him better in order to not get caught in no man’s land against counter-attacks, as he can often be too aggressive stepping higher to challenge for the ball. But, Man United’s new no. 6 being overly aggressive will serve them far better than not aggressive enough when he faces developing counter-attacks.
PST’s Nichoals Mendola summed up Baleba’s game very well last week when news of the deal first broke…
