He's like prime Pogba: Man Utd want to seal move for £50m midfielder ASAP

Manchester United head into this summer looking for something which they haven't had, it must be said, since Paul Pogba in his pomp - a true powerhouse midfielder.

The polarising Frenchman irked fans and pundits alike with his inconsistency and frequent flirtation with an Old Trafford exit, yet at his best, the World Cup winner was almost unstoppable, a gliding, graceful, monster of a talent.

A swift withdrawal through injury at Anfield perhaps marked a fitting way for a turbulent United career to come to an end, but it had all started so brightly, with Pogba helping Jose Mourinho's men to Europa League and Carabao Cup success in his debut season.

Re-signed on an £89m deal in that summer of 2016 from Juventus, the now 33-year-old stands alongside Casemiro as one of the few true marquee midfield signings in Manchester in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.

Could that be about to change?

Man Utd hoping to wrap up swift deal for £50m midfielder

Even since Pogba's second free transfer exit in 2022, a spate of midfield signings, Casemiro aside, have underwhelmed, with the likes of Sofyan Amrabat, Manuel Ugarte and the injury-hit Mason Mount never looking like a long-term solution.

There is now talk of not just one, not just two, but potentially even three midfield signings arriving at Old Trafford this summer, with a possible £60m deal for Crystal Palace's Adam Wharton having been mooted.

Evidently, Wharton isn't the only Premier League option under consideration, with Sky Sports reporting that Brighton and Hove Albion's Carlos Baleba remains a 'top target'.

As per the report, much of the work relating to a deal for the 22-year-old has already been done, with personal terms said to have been broadly agreed last summer.

According to Sky Sports, there is even a desire at United to potentially get this deal wrapped up ahead of the looming World Cup, having also been eyeing a deal in January.

No possible price tag is mentioned, although it has been claimed previously that INEOS are hoping for a fee closer to £50m, after a £100m asking price was touted in the past.

Why Baleba could be the next Pogba at Man Utd

There's no getting away from it. It hasn't been the season that Baleba would have hoped for, having started just 22 games in the Premier League, averaging just 54 minutes per game.

Routinely hooked at the break in the early weeks of the campaign, the Cameroon international has largely failed to kick on from a stellar 2024/25, a year that brought him even further into focus for those at United.

He had previously been a target for the club during his time at Lille, while he spoke at the time of his admiration for the aforementioned Pogba, highlighting the Frenchman as one of the midfielders he looks up to:

“I had a lot of idols that I watched on TV, especially in midfield: Paul Pogba at first, Kevin De Bruyne at second, and Thiago Alcântara at third. I watched them, I tried to imitate what they did. I never had any other dream than football.”

In the view of one notable analyst, he is even "similar to Pogba" in terms of his acceleration and power, able to breeze past opposition players with ease if allowed room to run.

That can be seen in the fact that he averaged one successful dribble per game in the league last season, while he was dribbled past himself just 0.9 times per game, a fearsome prospect both in and out of possession.

His physique and defensive nous also saw him average a remarkable 3.7 tackles and interceptions per game too, just ahead of what Pogba achieved in his first season back at Old Trafford (2.9 tackles and interceptions per game).

Like Pogba in his United and Juve pomp too, Baleba also boasts that knack for the spectacular, notably rifling home from range against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup last season.

He's not prolific, having scored only three times in 90 Premier League appearances, but that isn't necessarily his game, particularly having been deployed in a deep-lying number six role to date.

Much of what he is good at is centred around his ability to dominate in front of the back four, while keeping things neat and tidy in possession, having recorded a solid 88% pass accuracy rate last term, alongside an 86% average this season.

For context, Casemiro has a pass rate of just 81% this season.

Baleba, even while enduring a slump in 2025/26, appears to be the perfect option to provide that much-needed physicality to United's midfield unit, providing a powerhouse presence that the club arguably hasn't had since Pogba in his prime.

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