Brighton have ‘given permission’ for Carlos Baleba to travel up north to Manchester United ahead of his £70m transfer with a medical now set
Brighton star Carlos Baleba has been given permission to travel to Manchester for a medical ahead of his £70million transfer.
Manchester United are drawing closer to landing the midfielder, who is due to travel up north on Friday evening before his medical on Saturday (August 22), according to The Athletic. The Red Devils have reached an agreement for £65m, with add-ons taking it to £70m.
The report adds a sell-on clause has been negotiated as part of the deal. United are thought to be long-term admirers of Baleba, having also eyed him last summer and speaking about the Red Devils’ interest last season, Brighton chairman Tony Bloom said: “I don’t think Baleba was a saga.
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“There was interest from Manchester United, and we said that he wasn’t available this summer and they went away. So we’ve had many bigger sagas in the past.
“But Carlos Baleba, his improvement has been immense. Massively important player to this football club, and just delighted that he’s with us for this season.”
He added: “We always try and make sure that the players coming in, maybe players we’ve brought in previous seasons, can help with that situation.
“But that’s true of almost every club. The best players, unless you’re potentially Man City, Liverpool, Madrid, PSG, almost every club’s best players do get sold. And it’s up to us to make sure that we are prepared as much as we can.
“We can’t always get the timing right, but we are as prepared as much as we can be to make sure that, at the start of every season, we have a really, really competitive squad.”
United have been keen to strengthen their midfield over the summer following Casemiro’s departure and Manuel Ugarte’s injury. Michael Carrick has already splashed the cash on Andrey Santos from Chelsea and Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa.