Manchester United lastly moved nearer to a fifth successive Premier League win after successful their third straight sport in opposition to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
Brian Mbeumo scored two of the membership’s 4 targets within the match, Casemiro scored and Matheus Cunha scored his first objective since becoming a member of from Wolves.
Curiously, the Pink Devils have been up in opposition to a participant who’s reportedly trying to break the membership’s switch report, Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleva.
The Premier League giants have been reportedly eager on signing the defensive midfielder in the summertime switch window, however INEOS determined in opposition to the big-money transfer.
Nevertheless, Baleva failed to attain a objective or present an help and was substituted within the 59th minute, whereas his direct opponent Casemiro recorded a objective and an help.
The Brighton midfielder’s efficiency on Saturday, and his kind all through this season, could trigger the membership to rethink the potential for shifting him in future switch home windows.
Why Manchester United will not make a transfer to signal Carlos Baleva
The left-footed star’s decline in kind between final season and this season is a trigger for concern at Previous Trafford, because it reveals an absence of consistency in his play.
Within the 2024/25 season, Baleva made 34 appearances for Brighton within the Premier League, successful 55% of his duels and making 3.7 tackles and interceptions per sport, in keeping with Sofascore.
The 21-year-old midfield expertise scored three targets and offered one help for the membership, and his performances attracted curiosity from Manchester United in the summertime.
Sadly, Baleva has not been capable of keep his kind on the Premier League pitch this season as he was unable to maneuver from Brighton throughout the switch window.
By the opening 9 video games of the 2025/26 season, the defensive numbers of United’s goal defenders have declined throughout the board, which may very well be a purple flag for the Pink Devils’ recruitment division.
Carlos Baleva (Premier League) | 24/25 | 25/26 |
|---|---|---|
Look | 34 | 9 |
the objective | 3 | 0 |
Tackles + Interceptions per sport | 3.7 | 2.1 |
Clearance per sport | 1.3 | 0.9 |
Duels gained per match | 5.8 | 3.1 |
Floor duel success charge | 55% | 41% |
Variety of fouls dedicated per sport | 1.2 | 1.4 |
Statistics by Sofascore | ||
As you possibly can see from the desk above, Baleva’s kind has fallen off a cliff this season from a defensive standpoint, going from being dominant in duels to being dominated by opponents.
This may very well be why Ruben Amorim and INEOS are reluctant to make a club-record £89m-plus transfer for the Brighton participant in January or subsequent summer time. That is as a result of his present efficiency degree reveals he isn’t constantly nice.
Man United making ready to signal La Liga midfielder
Manchester United are thinking about signing Actual Madrid defensive midfielder Eduardo Camavinga within the upcoming January deadline, in keeping with a report in Spain by Stretty Information.
In line with the newspaper, the Pink Devils are making ready to signal the France worldwide subsequent 12 months to strengthen their choices within the heart of the park.
He added that the Premier League giants have made Camavinga their “highest precedence” goal and are prepared to supply round £70m to safe his contract from the Spanish facet.
Nevertheless, the newspaper revealed that Actual Madrid are in no hurry to signal the previous Rennes star and it may price greater than £70 million to persuade them to half methods with the midfielder.
It stays to be seen whether or not the Pink Devils can do sufficient to persuade Actual Madrid to promote Camavinga, or if they’ll persuade him to maneuver to Previous Trafford given the shortage of European soccer gives this season.
Why Manchester United ought to signal Eduardo Camavinga
Manchester United want to maneuver ahead with their transfer for a French central midfielder. As a result of he could be an improve to Baleva and a fair higher signing for Amorim’s midfield.
The left-footed star, who scored his first objective within the Champions League final month, offered a well timed reminder of his high quality in El Clasico on the weekend, successful eight of 12 matches and changing all three of his dribble makes an attempt within the 2-1 win in opposition to Barcelona, in keeping with SofaScore.
Camavinga, who has been used at left-back, centre-back, central midfield and defensive midfield for Actual, has been extra constant and of upper high quality than Valeva in all competitions over the previous twelve months.
The graph above reveals how the France worldwide outperformed the Brighton star in key statistics in midfield final 12 months, each out and in of possession.
On high of that, the £70m midfielder, described by analyst Raj Chauhan as a “dueling monster”, has outperformed Valeva at league degree to date within the 2025/26 season.
25/26 season | Octane (Liga) | Baleva (Premier League) |
|---|---|---|
Look | 6 | 9 |
Couch rating analysis | 6.96 | 6.53 |
Tackles made per sport | 1.8 | 1.0 |
Variety of dribble breakthroughs per sport | 0.7x | 0.7x |
Duels gained per match | 4.3 | 3.1 |
Floor duel success charge | 74% | 41% |
Variety of fouls per sport | 0.3 | 1.4 |
Statistics by Sofascore | ||
As you possibly can see from the desk above, the Actual Madrid star has change into more practical as a defensive presence within the heart of the park at league degree this season, successful 1.2 instances extra duels per match and successful a a lot greater proportion of floor duels.
Maybe probably the most notable statistic is the variety of respective fouls dedicated per sport. Whereas Camavinga hardly ever stumbles and has to foul an opponent, Baleva commits a median of multiple foul per match, which signifies that he loses duels and has to resort to fouls to cease play.
Total, Camavinga seems to be the higher choice of the 2, based mostly on his kind this season and over the previous twelve months as a defensive midfielder signed by United within the January switch window.
That is why INEOS ought to neglect about Baleva’s switch and deal with attempting to signal the Actual Madrid midfielder subsequent 12 months.
