Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler has made a demand surrounding Carlos Baleba transfer rumours as he continues to be linked to Manchester United.
Manchester United brought in four senior players for over £200 million in the summer to strengthen Ruben Amorim’s squad.
Benjamin Šeško, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha were recruited to enhance the attacking options, while Senne Lammens joined to bolster the goalkeeping unit.
Even with those additions, several key areas still need attention, and United have begun turning their focus toward next summer’s transfer plans.
They had explored the possibility of signing Brighton’s Carlos Baleba before the end of August, but after difficult initial negotiations with the Seagulls, United postponed any move for the midfielder until 2026.
Hurzeler makes Baleba transfer demand
Since the start of the 2025/26 campaign, Baleba has been struggling at the Amex Stadium and he looked poor when visiting Old Trafford last month.
It has been claimed that the links with United in the summer have impacted the young midfielder, who is trying to find the form which made him one of the most exciting talents in the Premier League last season.
Those rumours continue to circle around social media and in Fabian Hurzeler’s press conferences but the Brighton boss has demanded that the media stop speaking about Baleba’s potential exit.
“I think it has gone now. We are now four months into the season so we can’t speak about these rumours any more,” he told reporters when asked about United and Baleba this week.
“It’s about being a Brighton player, it’s about performing well here and it is about getting him back to his best level. Avoid the noise, avoid all the rumours and focus on the things you can influence and the things you can do best and that’s football.”
Baleba transfer rumours will not go away
The message from Hurzeler is understandable but unfortunately for him, these links will not go away even when the transfer windows aren’t open. That is because United are involved.
Fabrizio Romano provided fresh details in recent days in relation to United’s interest in Baleba and confirmed that the Brighton midfielder is still a ‘priority’ signing despite his form.
Those updates and rumours will only heat up further in the January window, even if the possibility of United signing him mid-season are slim.
But it will be interesting to see how Baleba can react to his poor form when there is an extra level of scrutiny, because that would only increase if he actually made the move to Old Trafford and he would need to deal with it a lot better than he is now.
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