Man Utd Have ‘Instructed Scouts’ To Watch Baleba Alternative Who Has Been Likened To Michael Essien

BACK David Tully Feb 10th 2026 Man Utd are keeping close tabs on FC Nordsjaelland midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi, according to reports. TEAMtalk claims that Director of Football Jason Wilcox has “instructed scouts” to watch the Ghanaian youngster. It is believed that a representative was in the stands when Nordsjaelland took on Sonderjyske Fodbold at the weekend. They would have been impressed by what they saw as Yirenkyi scored the opener in a 2-1 win, and provided the assist for the second, with the result moving Nordsjaelland up to 7th in the Danish Superliga table. Man Utd will face fierce competition for the player The Red Devils are by no means the only Premier League team that have been keeping an eye on Yirenkyi’s progress, with both Chelsea and Arsenal having sent scouts to watch him as well. In fact, TEAMtalk report that the two London clubs also had people watching him on Sunday against Sonderjyske. Brighton are thought to be fans of Yirenkyi too, with the Seagulls considering him as a potential replacement for Carlos Baleba. Considering that United did contemplate making a bid for the latter last summer, they could now opt for a cheaper alternative instead. His asking price is said to be around €30m (£26m) Yirenkyi has been likened to a former Chelsea star The 20-year-old’s style of play has already drawn comparisons to Michael Essien. That is not a surprise for a couple of reasons. Firstly, they are both Ghanaian and play in midfield, so it is easy to see the similarities. However, Essien has also been deeply involved in Yirenkyi’s development. He is currently Nordsjaelland’s assistant manager, having taken up the role in September 2020. Essien has been guiding him since he arrived from the Right to Dream academy in 2024. Both the academy and Norsjaelland are owned by the Mansour Group. Want more news on Man Utd? Add Man U News as a preferred source on Google David Tully David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for the Football News Network.