Brighton chief reveals brutal response to Man Utd's Carlos Baleba interest

Manchester United were strongly linked with Brighton star Carlos Baleba in the summer window but were unable to thrash out a deal with the Seagulls and he opted to stay at the Amex Stadium

Brighton chief Tony Bloom has revealed that he told Manchester United in no uncertain terms that Carlos Baleba was NOT for sale. The Red Devils were linked with a move for the Cameroonian this summer as Ruben Amorim attempted to bolster his midfield options.

Brighton reportedly want to bank around €120million (£104.6m) to sell Baleba, a price that United were not willing to reach. Seagulls chairman Tony Bloom has now offered an insight into the negotiations and claimed that United quickly dropped their interest after being told that the midfielder was not on the market.

Speaking to The Argus, he said: “I don’t think Baleba was a saga. There was interest from Manchester United, and we said that he wasn't available this summer and they went away.

“So we've had many bigger sagas in the past. But Carlos Baleba, his improvement has been immense. Massively important player to this football club, and just delighted that he's with us for this season.”

Baleba, 21, eventually ended up staying with Brighton and remains under contract until 2028. Had he departed, he would have followed in a long line of players to have left the club including Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Alexis Mac Allister, Leandro Trossard and Robert Sanchez, among others.

Bloom though insists that the Seagulls will not be dubbed as a selling club. He added: “I don't view ourselves as a selling club per se, because I think that every club, almost every club, is a selling club.

“And by that, I'm talking about their best players going, because that's just the football ecosystem. And we know that other clubs pay much more significant salaries than we can. We can't do that.

“And so when a player has the opportunity to go to a really big club and they're offering a huge amount of money, it has to be right timing for the club.

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“It has to be the right transfer fee. But then we, of course, we allow players to go. That happens across the board. Sometimes it's more difficult. Negotiations are more difficult than other times. But, again, no different to any other club.”

Brighton have had a mixed start to the season under boss Fabian Hurzeler. They sit 12th after two wins from their opening seven league games.

Meanwhile, United appear to have shifted focus onto alternative midfield targets which include Borussia Dortmund star Jobe Bellingham.