The arrival of Matheus Cuha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko not only added fire to the attack, but also showed an important quality that Ruben Amorim wanted to apply to the whole team, which is physical strength.
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That explains the attention of Manchester United for Brighton's Carlos BaleBa. The 21-year-old is the energetic Box-to-Box midfielder, always active pressing and moving tirelessly. He not only brings fire in the middle of the yard, but also brings quality even when there is a ball and no shadow, what Man United is lacking.
Brighton once thought that it was not until the summer of the big teams to start asking BaleBa. Last July, there was a top Premier League club watching him, but they thought that BaleBa was still not ready to step up a higher level.
The fact that Man United entered early shows that they want to “take a look” before the battle of price. The problem is that Brighton wants to keep BaleBa when his contract is 3 years. Chelsea is speeding up the negotiation to bring Alejandro Garnacho to Stamford Bridge. This deal will help MU have more budget, but Brighton will require equivalent fee, even more £ 115 million they have received when selling Moises Caicedo Summer 2023.
After the friendly match against Leeds United, coach Amorim frankly admitted: “We lack speed, especially in the middle line.” Although the system can change flexibly in the match, Amorim's 3-4-2-1 diagram often puts great pressure on the central midfield: they have to shield the vertical axis, and cover the large space when losing the ball. Therefore, this position requires comprehensive physical, technical as well as tactical thinking.
Looking at the current MU, it can be seen that Kobbie Mainoo is still young, while the future of Toby Collyer is unclear. Manuel Ugarte is more defensive, Bruno Fernandes is good at holding the ball but not outstanding when pressing, and Casemiro at the age of 33 is difficult to maintain the intensity of the whole season. Man United need a player who converges all three factors, and Baleba is the answer.
Just 21 Ligue 1 matches in Lille's shirt are enough for Brighton to believe that he is enough to replace Caicedo in the middle. But the process of adapting to the player's Premier League is not easy: In the 23/24 season, he only played 15 matches, ie 39% of the minutes under Roberto de Zerbi.
However, in the last season, he became a pillar when only Jan Paul Van Hecke and goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen played more minutes than him in the Premier League. Compared to Man United, where Fernandes has played 28 Premier League matches, with the total number of 90 minutes of Casemiro, Ugarte, Mainoo and Christian Eriksen, BaleBa's persistence is a big plus.
Regarding the style of playing football, BaleBa stands out in active defense. He is in the top of the number of times rushing to win the ball (88/99) and is also very successful in the dispute, with the rate of the ball up to 88/99. The ability to rob the ball from the back of the opponent has become his familiar weapon in the past 18 months.
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In terms of comprehensive dispute, BaleBa is superior to what Manchester United has. His success rate in the ball, ball and dispute is uneven in the group of 25% of the best Premier League midfielder last season.
The special feature of BaleBa is that he is like a combination of two midfielders who used to wear Brighton, Moises Caicedo and Yves Bissouma. CaiCedo developed into a strong box-to-box model, fire in dispute, rushing into the ball and chasing the opponent non-stop. Bissouma is different: With a skilled personal technique, he is willing to manage in dangerous situations and love to launch long shots.
In addition, BaleBa is one of the rare central midfielders. On the current market, almost not many players have the same skill set. According to Skillcorner data, the ability to hold the ball under the pressure of BaleBa is in the best group in Europe if compared to midfielders under 23 years old in the top 5 tournaments.
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Thanks to fullness, BaleBa can escape pressing with brave ball lines, bringing Brighton from the yard to the middle area in just a few beats. The Pressing escape ability of the Cameroon player is particularly valuable to Amorim's team, especially when the 3 -defender diagram will reduce a plan to escape pressing. This is also the reason last season Fernandes and Eriksen often have to play lower.
Last season, Baleba even kicked the left defender several times when Brighton was in crisis of personnel crisis due to injury and suspension. This not only helps Man United have more backup plan in this position, but also shows that he does not have many problems when he backs the ball and breaks his first pressing layer.
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He once shown that after only 5 minutes at Old Trafford last season: When Man United played the average defense block and did not put pressure, BaleBa backed down between the two central defenders, received the ball from Van Hecke and then launched a passing to the defense for Kaoru Mitoma to speed up …
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… Just a few seconds later, Mitoma stretched horizontally for Yankuba Minteh to cushion the ball to open the score for Brighton.
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Of course, BaleBa is not a complete product; At the age of 21, that's normal. Sometimes he made a mistake, partly because of the adventure style (like sometimes Bruno Fernandes lost the ball when trying to create mutations), and sometimes technical abuse, leading to loopholes in defense.
Last season, he received 8 yellow cards and caused 2 penalties. One of them took place right at Old Trafford, when BaleBa chased Joshua Zirkzee and pulled the opponent in the penalty area. The match against Bournemouth was the same: Although the second yellow card was somewhat heavy (because he hit the ball), the first yellow card could not be cured when he lost the ball from the middle of the yard and forced to pull the opponent's shirt to prevent the counterattack.
HLV Fabian Hurzeler từng nhận xét về Baleba hồi tháng 1 như sau: “Đây là mùa đầu tiên cậu ấy được thi đấu thường xuyên. Với một cầu thủ trẻ, việc được ra sân hầu như mỗi tuần là bước tiến lớn. Cậu ấy luôn cố thích nghi và cải thiện. Tất nhiên, đôi lúc cậu ấy mất tập trung và khi đó chúng tôi phải nhắc nhở. Nhưng nhìn chung, Baleba đã tạo ảnh hưởng tích cực: Cậu ấy vừa mang đến sức mạnh thể chất, cân bằng giữa phòng ngự và kiểm soát bóng, Just can score and defend. If you keep your feet on the ground and maintain a modest attitude, he will have a brilliant future.
Brighton was familiar with “production” and replaced the middle -line stars: Bissouma, Alexis Mac Allister and CaiCedo both joined Big 6 clubs. With the potential BaleBa showed last season, easy to understand when he became the next potential name in that production line.
According to the New York Times
The former MU defender, Wes Brown hopes that Carlos Baleba will choose the Red Devils instead of Man City at this summer market.
Carlos BaleBa is receiving special attention from MU but Fabian Hurzeler is not afraid of this midfielder who joins Man Utd.
Some MU players are contacting Carlos Baleba, and are trying to convince Brighton's midfielder to Old Trafford.