8 May 2026 07:03 BST |<\/span> Robin Bairner Accredited football journalist and editor covering the game since 2006 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Manchester United\u2019s summer transfer plans have become clearer, with the Old Trafford club making a \u201cfinal call\u201d over Chelsea\u2019s Cole Palmer as their stance over Brighton\u2019s Carlos Baleba also becomes clearer.<\/p>\n United find themselves in the market for at least one \u2013 but probably more \u2013 midfielders this season. Casemiro\u2019s impending departure means that at least one defensively minded player is required, while the Red Devils also want further options to strengthen their squad ahead of their return to the Champions League next season.<\/p>\n The list of players linked with a move to Man Utd remains extensive and prone to changing, and the picture has now become clearer regarding transfers for both Palmer and Baleba.<\/p>\n United have decided that a move for the Chelsea star is not a priority for them this summer, according to The Mirror<\/i><\/b>.<\/p>\n While there seemed to be a real prospect of Palmer moving back to Manchester earlier this year, the 24-year-old has done his best to quell rumours, despite discontent among several star players at Chelsea, most notably Enzo Fernandez.<\/p>\n The England man has also not been close to his best form, and United have elected to take a step back from a deal.<\/p>\n Palmer has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of \u20ac98 million, while his asking price sits at \u20ac105m (\u00a390m). On top of this, he has a contract worth \u20ac63m (\u00a354.6m) until 2033 at Chelsea, making any move \u2018hard to justify financially\u2019 for United.<\/p>\n With Bruno Fernandes ready to commit his future to the club, it is also unclear how both could fit in the same team.<\/p>\n One deal that has not been dismissed is a move for Brighton\u2019s Carlos Baleba, with United ready to rekindle their interest in the Cameroon international midfielder.<\/p>\n Baleba was a player they sought to sign last summer, but were put off by the Seagulls\u2019 valuation of over \u20ac100m. The 22-year-old ex-Lille star has not enjoyed the same prominence in the Premier League this season, but United remain ready to explore a deal.<\/p>\n Again, this will depend on Brighton\u2019s willingness to sell at a price they see as reasonable, according to transfer insider Ben Jacobs.<\/p>\n \u201cBaleba is not in the decline, Manchester United still see the potential,\u201d he told The United Stand<\/b>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don’t have to go to the player side because they agreed terms last summer, so if they choose to proceed, it’s straight in the front door negotiating with Brighton.<\/p>\n \u201cBrighton have not yet given anybody a number, so my info on Man Utd is if they go for Baleba, they don’t want to go above that \u00a370 million number, and they want, therefore, a lower deal than the \u00a375m they were prepared to pay last summer.\u201d<\/p>\n The transfer picture is slowly becoming clearer at United, then. A move for Palmer has been dismissed, but Baleba remains a strong possibility \u2013 but only at the right price.<\/p>\n Casemiro reveals why he won\u2019t make Man Utd U-turn<\/b><\/p>\n Man Utd Transfer News Today: \u20ac20m deal close as Rashford\u2019s private thoughts revealed<\/b><\/p>\n Transfer Rumours: Arsenal and Liverpool have ‘enormous’ interest in Barcola as PSG open door to deal<\/b><\/p>\n Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n \u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 8 May 2026 07:03 BST | 5 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Robin Bairner | Chief…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n Chief Editor<\/span>\n <\/div>\nMan Utd \u2018rule out\u2019 Palmer deal<\/h2>\n
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Baleba deal is on \u2013 at the right price<\/h2>\n
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The FootballTransfers app <\/h2>\n