Carlos Baleba set for Manchester United debut against Tottenham after £70m Brighton move
From school exam to Old Trafford exam
Carlos Baleba has come a long way since the day he had to pull out of a Cameroon Cup last-16 match because of a school exam. Now the midfield tests the 22-year-old faces are confined to the football pitch — and a significant one looms at Old Trafford this weekend.
Baleba signed a five-year contract with Manchester United after the club completed a £70m move from Brighton & Hove Albion on 25 August. He was by far the most expensive of United's three major summer signings, and the player manager Michael Carrick has earmarked for the holding midfield role he has struggled to fill effectively since Casemiro left in May.
Pressure builds at a struggling United
United knew Baleba was carrying an ankle injury when they signed him, and they may have to wait until after the international break for the Cameroon international to make his debut. They were not expecting to be 12th in the Premier League with just one win and five points from their opening five games — and Brighton came from 2-0 down at Old Trafford to deservedly knock them out of the EFL Cup.
"Very quick," is the assessment from one United insider of their first impressions of Baleba. "He covers the ground really well."
A handful of training sessions before Baleba was named on the bench for the 1-1 draw at Fulham on 20 September, plus a behind-closed-doors game against Swiss side Lausanne-Sports on 2 October, is a small sample on which to base a judgement. But his speed should bring positive benefits to a midfield that has been too easy to play through. Andrey Santos possesses that pace; less so Kobbie Mainoo and Youri Tielemans, who have been paired by Carrick in the last four league games because of their superior technical ability.
Carrick's side is one of only four in the top flight yet to keep a clean sheet, conceding twice in four of their seven games in all competitions. Previous reporting from the Guardian on 21 September described how United were "booed off" at Fulham, with Alex Iwobi and Josh King repeatedly cutting through the middle and Matheus Cunha admitting Fulham "put in more energy than us".
Carrick's selection headaches
The visit of rock-bottom Tottenham, before three consecutive away trips — at Atletico Madrid and Como in the Champions League either side of a Pennines derby at Leeds — raises the stakes. Reporting from Sky Sports on 9 October detailed the scale of Carrick's injury concerns: Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu both withdrew from international duty, while question marks remain over Marcus Rashford and Mainoo after they pulled out of England squads, alongside Benjamin Sesko with Slovenia. United will, however, welcome players back, with Amad and Matthijs de Ligt closing in on full fitness.
Settling in and building bonds
Baleba must do more than run fast, and his influence must be felt in the dressing room as well as on the pitch. Sources say an understandable initial shyness is being overcome. He is not the most confident English speaker, but has improved since moving to Brighton from Lille for £23.2m in 2023. He has struck up a friendship with Amad Diallo — Amad even laughed on a social media video of Baleba poking fun at him after Cameroon beat his Ivory Coast in a friendly on 3 October. A former Lille team-mate of new France international Leny Yoro in 2022-23 and an international colleague of Bryan Mbeumo, Baleba has also been joking with Dorgu after last season's final game at the Amex Stadium.
The Fernandes subplot
It will be fascinating to see how Baleba and Bruno Fernandes match up if they start at Old Trafford, with defeat for either side capable of turning early-season disappointment into a near-crisis. Fernandes has produced disappointing early performances since his move to Tottenham, a reminder — as Baleba's own career shows — that any verdict on a deal should wait until a player has actually taken to the pitch. Baleba made 112 appearances and scored four goals in three seasons with Brighton.
'Never give up'
Baleba's determination was drilled into him by his father through punishing training sessions as a boy. He fulfilled a promise to his late mother to build her a house in Douala, though she died a few months before he left Lille and never saw it — a motivation he recounted in a Guardian interview in April 2025. In a September 2023 chat with French magazine Onze Mondial, he explained his love of manga, naming Fist of the North Star and its hero Kenshiro as his favourite. "When he started out, everyone beat him up, he got covered in scars, then he became strong," Baleba said. "After that, he was the one beating everyone up. He never gave up. I like that attitude."