It's no secret that United have needed to bolster their midfield since well, Michael Carrick retired in 2018! For almost a decade, many have come in but pretty much all have failed to fill the boots left by one of the club's all-time greats of that position.
However, in the past couple of seasons, we've truly seen how much of a weakness this area of the team has been. Oppositions cut through it almost as if it isn't there and gives them the opportunity to have a clear run-in towards goal.
Having a vulnerable midfield like this can lead to the downfall of clubs (and dare I say, managers as well). This is after all, the most important part of a side. 'Games are won and lost in the midfield' as the old saying goes.
The good news for United is that at the moment, the highly-questioned pair of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes are holding their own, to an extent. They may not be the perfect duo but they are the best we have.
Ruben Amorim clearly doesn't value or rate both Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte that highly which is why we hardly see them play. These benchwarmers have seen just 574 minutes on the field between them and have started a staggering 4 matches out of 12, again, this is between the pair.
Yeah, Amorim don't rate these MFs.
Casemiro is also 33 and not one for the future plus can be inconsistent besides, while Bruno is no true no 8 which has been established every time he plays in that position which unfortunately, is every time.
This causes the midfield to be a bit crap and overrun which creates many problems for the manager who continues to pick them.
Just out of curiosity, watch this hot take video regarding the midfield and tell me what you think.
The other good news is that there are many midfield options for us to go and get with Baleba being one of them.
This report about the Cameroonian being a 'priority target' is coming from Fabrizio Romano. He says that "Manchester United see Carlos Baleba as a priority target for 2026" and also that the player is "very keen" on moving to United. I mean, which player wouldn't want to move to United?
And this is where that risk factor comes in.
United were heavily linked with the 21-year-old in the summer transfer window but after that deal fell through, Baleba's form all but crashed and burned. Manager Fabian Hurzeler has been wont to substitute him not long after halftime in multiple matches due to regular poor performances.
His 'audition' as many were calling it, against United in that 4-2 win for Amorim's side was seen as a complete disaster. Compared to what we saw from another one of our main midfield targets Elliot Anderson the following week in the draw at Forest, it was worlds apart. Anderson was mightily impressive that for me, I would prefer him over Baleba and indeed most targets.
The problem with Baleba is not necessarily his quality as a footballer. While he is playing at a level that most wouldn't associate with him considering how he performed last season, I still believe that that midfielder from last year is still there.
It's his mindset that is of concern.
If the reason for this drop off in form is due to not getting that move to Old Trafford, then we have a problem.
This displays a weak mentality in that when something didn't go his way, his head dropped.
How many times have we said that of our players over the years?
This is one of the main reasons as to why we've failed for so long in that whenever faced with any bit of adversity, we crumble. So do we really want another player of that ilk joining our club? We need to remove the weak mentality otherwise we'll continue to be in this state of never reaching the levels we want.
You could also question his professionalism as while he didn't get that big move, he still has a job to do for his current club, a club where he is (was?) seen as an important player. Baleba was perhaps the best young midfielder in the league before all of this talk about joining United. He was seen as the next Moises Caicedo thanks to his talent. The asking price last season was around the £100m mark thanks to his performances whereas at the moment, getting half of that would be seen as a good deal.
Are we as a club in a position to be taking such risks?
Of course if United were to sign him I would back him and hope that he could find that same form from last season but again, why risk it? We don't know if he will reclaim that form and on top of this, there are quite a few young top midfielders out there giving us several options.
The aforementioned Anderson, Adam Wharton - both of which are Premier League-proven - Angelo Stiller at Stuttgart is another highly-rated midfielder. He would probably cost much less than anyone of the other three as well. If Baleba was the only option, I'd be more open to it but I'd rather any one of those others.
This makes me question as to why Carlos Baleba is out 'top target'? You?
Carlos Baleba is Man Utd's 'priority target' for midfield for 2026 | Image credit: Getty Images via Goal