Man Utd “Remain In Contact” With £100M Rated Target’s Entourage As Transfer To Old Trafford Is Talked Up

BACK David Tully Dec 31st 2025 Man Utd are still hoping to secure the signature of Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba after keeping communication lines open with his representatives. The Red Devils were put off from signing the Cameroon international last summer after learning he would cost more than £100m. Even so, journalist Fabrizio Romano insists Baleba is still a top target for Ruben Amorim’s side. While a move in January has been played down, Romano believes it is a transfer to keep an eye on: “Baleba is super appreciated by them. A January move is still seen as unlikely, but any moment, January or summer, if Brighton decide to open doors to an exit for Baleba, United remain absolutely interested in the player. Manchester United remain in contact with people close to the player.” Amorim insists Man Utd will stay patient Ruben Amorim’s recent comments do add fuel to the fire that Baleba remains the club’s top midfield target. When asked about January transfers, the Portuguese head coach suggested that the club may wait until the summer to get the right player: “I’m not going to knock on the door of Jason [Wilcox] and Omar [Berrada] to ask for more players. They know what we need, but I also understand that we have a process. We want to do things with the certainty that we are not going to make the same mistakes in the past.” “So if we need to suffer in some moments, we are going to suffer to try to push, to give two steps ahead, maybe in the summer. I don’t know. So it’s a really tough market in January. So we will see.” Are there alternatives to Baleba? Romano says both Elliot Anderson and Adam Wharton are also on the club’s radar, but neither of those players are likely to leave their respective teams in January either. There are other options if the club do want to recruit a midfielder next month. Atletico Madrid’s Conor Gallagher could be available for a relatively low price – €30m (£26m), while Al-Hilal’s Ruben Neves is another candidate who has been mentioned. 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.