Man Utd could free up an extra £75m in order to seal a record-breaking transfer for Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba, according to reports.
The Red Devils have already invested a lot of money in their first four signings of the summer transfer window with Matheus Cunha (£62.5m), Bryan Mbeumo (£65m), Benjamin Sesko (£74m) and Diego Leon (£7m) all arriving at Old Trafford.
However, Man Utd are still looking to sign at least another two players before the window shuts on September 1 with a midfielder and goalkeeper top of their agenda.
Brighton star Baleba has emerged as their top target to occupy a midfield slot in Ruben Amorim’s side but the Seagulls have reportedly put a £120m asking price on his head, which would be a club-record deal for Man Utd.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano brought the latest on a potential deal for Baleba on Tuesday with Man Utd looking to “understand the final official cost” before making a bid.
Romano said on GiveMeSport: “They would also like to know the actual cost because with Brighton, it’s never easy to negotiate, and they are very good at negotiations.
“So in this context, they are having with the agents of the player, they are waiting to understand how much it will cost, because the rumour in the industry is something around £120million.
“But at the moment, Manchester United are still waiting to understand the final official cost for Baleba – to understand when and how to try to make a bid, and to try to approach Brighton for Baleba.
“For sure, the player is keen on the move, and the player is not closing doors to Manchester United even without European football. Baleba is keen on joining Manchester United, and now it will depend on the two clubs. My understanding is that Manchester United want to try.”
Italian journalist Nicola Schira revealed earlier this week that Man Utd have already struck ‘an agreement in principle’ with the Brighton midfielder.
Schira wrote on X: ‘#ManchesterUnited consider Carlos #Baleba as a main target and are ready to push to sign him. #MUFC are set to submit the first official bid to #Brighton as revealed today. Baleba has an agreement in principle with #mutd for a contract until 2030 + option for 2031. #transfers’
After Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s stark warning around the Red Devils’ poor financial position earlier this year, there are concerns about how Man Utd would be able to afford a deal for Baleba.
However, football finance expert Stefan Borson insists that Man Utd could get an extra £75m added to their transfer budget by rearranging their finances.
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.”