Man Utd are in front of neighbours Man City in the race to sign Carlos Baleba from Brighton this summer, according to reports.
The Red Devils are looking to continue adding to their squad this summer after bringing in Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Diego Leon.
Widespread reports have indicated that Man Utd are still looking to sign a defensive midfielder and a goalkeeper before the end of the transfer window.
Their top target in midfield has emerged as Baleba with some reports indicating that Ruben Amorim has demanded the Brighton star to complete a good transfer window for the Red Devils.
And now Caught Offside have claimed that Man Utd are ‘currently understood to be leading the race for his signature’ with Man City ‘also stepping up their interest in Baleba as Pep Guardiola is a huge personal admirer of the Cameroon international’.
The report has also revealed quotes from a source: “United have been in talks with Baleba for weeks. They’ve already agreed personal terms — contract length and salary are sorted.
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“Baleba has told Brighton he wants to leave and made it clear that his preferred destination is Old Trafford. Brighton, however, are playing it cautious. With the player under contract until 2028, they’re using that leverage to demand a massive transfer fee.”
Brighton are apparently valuing Baleba at £120m with Man Utd potential having to break their own transfer record in order to sign the midfielder.
After Sir Jim Ratcliffe issued a stark warning over the club’s financial position earlier this year, many have wondered how Man Utd could afford such a deal.
However, football finance expert Stefan Borson reckons they could raise as much as £75m overnight if they wanted to.
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Borson told Football Insider: “Cash is probably their biggest challenge in terms of being able to do all these deals, but it depends how you structure the deals.
“Likewise, it depends what your access to capital is from external parties. It may be that they’re just in a good position with Ratcliffe and the Glazers to either get Ratcliffe to put more money in and buy some more shares.
“I think it’s unlikely, but it’s not impossible. Everybody will tell me it’s ridiculous to suggest the Glazers would stump up some cash. But again, it’s not impossible. I would say a lot of United fans would say it is impossible.
“It’s also not impossible that they do an equity raise from institutional shareholders. Again, pretty unlikely, but not impossible.
“Then the most likely scenario is that they just get some short-term debt. So, they have a larger facility on their working capital facility. They pay about 6 per cent on that, so 2 per cent over the bank rate, SONIA.
“So, you pay about 6 per cent per annum on that money. They will probably say, look, we can get another £50-75million that way.
“It costs us a little bit, but we’ve actually got to compete here.”
