Michael Carrick has refused to acknowledge Manchester United's interest in Carlos Baleba after they made an offer worth around £65 million to Brighton & Hove Albion for the Ecuador international.
United tried to sign Baleba during last summer's transfer window, too — when his club valued the midfielder at around £100 million — but they have since seemingly reduced their asking price after a lacklustre season for the Seagulls.
Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans are two midfielders who have already signed for United in recent weeks, but the club have made clear all summer that they wanted a third. Twelve months after missing out on Baleba, it now appears that the club are closing in on a move to complete their overhaul in the middle of the pitch, albeit they would be signing the Brighton player on the back of a below-par season last term, in which he barely finished a match.
Carrick’s Press Conference Comments
Carrick addressed the media at Carrington on Thursday afternoon and was pressed on United's negotiations over Baleba, as well as whether a left-back addition was feasible ahead of the transfer deadline on September 1.
“I just think we're looking to strengthen the squad,” he said. “We're certainly working towards that, making the most of the situation that we have and trying to improve things and trying to move forward, you know, I said the same thing to you last time, so yeah, certainly trying to make the most of the opportunities to finish the window stronger than we went into it, and I think we're in a good way to doing that so far.”
Baleba’s Injury and Hull City’s Transfer Activity
Baleba has recently sustained an ankle problem. The injury is not considered severe, but he is expected to be sidelined for several more weeks, which means he will not be immediately available for selection by United.
United's opening-day adversaries, Hull City, have been active in the transfer market following their promotion to the Premier League, bringing in 11 players to preserve their top-flight standing.
“Well, that's the beauty of the new season, you know,” Carrick said of Hull's revamped squad. “I think certainly for teams coming up in the league, for the most part, there tends to be quite a few changes within the group, the playing group, so it's always a challenge when you're playing against them. There's that freshness, there's that buzz around the football club of coming into the Premier League, and what that brings, so again, we're fully aware of that. We'll be prepared, obviously, mentally and physically. We've done a lot of work anyway, but mentally we'll be prepared. We know what the game's going to bring and how good we need to be to get the right result.”
Carrick on Title Ambitions
Carrick refused to dismiss a tilt at the Premier League trophy this campaign. “It's going to be a jump. I mean, whatever I say doesn't really matter, you know, whether I say we can or we can't,” he said. “Oh, I would never say we can't, by the way, I don't believe that, but whatever I say is about what we do, you know, and what we can do, what we're capable of doing, what we believe we can do as a group. I think the run of form that we had last season gives us a lot of confidence, but then we know there's a whole new step to make as a group. We're pushing to do that. You know, it's exciting. I think we've got the potential to achieve things, and we're definitely giving everything that we can. And we've got to believe that we're a good team and we can do good things.”
