It’s all been rather quiet at Manchester City in recent weeks, but that is about to change.
In both January and early June, the Sky Blues were very active in the transfer market, getting players in ahead of the Club World Cup, with Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Aït-Nouri and Rayan Cherki all debuting stateside earlier this summer.
However, since Pep Guardiola’s team were ignominiously dumped out in the round of 16 by Al-Hilal in Orlando, not a lot to report either on or off the pitch.
James Trafford has re-joined the club from Burnley, taking the Citizens’ spend in 2025 to almost £350m, but could they be about to smash their club-transfer record, seeking a statement signing as they attempt to reclaim the Premier League title?
Manchester City aiming to bolster their midfield options
One of the most interesting aspects of Man City’s team in the early weeks of this season will be the reintegration of Rodri.
After rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament against Arsenal in September, Rodri was not seen again until 20 May, coming off the bench for a seven-minute cameo against Bournemouth.
The Ballon d’Or winner did feature in all four Club World Cup matches in June, albeit his only start came against Juventus, match practice that will help, but he’ll need to get up to speed quickly, ahead of Man City’s Premier League opener at Molineux.
As the season progresses, there are plenty of options to partner Rodri at the base of midfield, new signing Reijnders, Mateo Kovačić, Nico González, İlkay Gündoğan and Matheus Nunes, to name but a few, but could they make a move to sign one of the Premier League’s very best in that role?
Well, according to Julien Laurens of ESPN, Manchester City – alongside rivals Manchester United – are interested in signing Carlos Baleba, with Guardiola said to have ‘been a longtime admirer’ of the player.
Transfer Focus
Mega money deals, controversial moves and big-name flops. This is the home of transfer news and opinion across Football FanCast.
Laurens adds that the Cameroonian international is valued at around £104m by Brighton, who are looking for an astronomically high fee, given that former club Lille are entitled to a 20% sell-on clause.
This comes days after David Ornstein of The Athletic reported that Man United had ‘made contact’ with the Seagulls over the possibility of signing the 21-year-old, so could Baleba end up in Manchester after all, only in a sky blue shirt rather than in red?
What Carlos Baleba would bring to Manchester City
Baleba joined Brighton & Hove Albion from Lille for a reported fee of £23m just two summers ago, and has certainly impressed all Premier League observers.
Ryan Adsett of Talk Seagulls describes him as an “agile powerhouse in midfield” who is a “serious talent”, while Matthew Avery of Breaking the Lines asserts that he will become ‘a world-class player’ given his ‘physical dominance’ and ‘elite line-breaking’ ability, concluding that his value in the transfer market will only continue ‘skyrocketing’.
Ahead of Brighton’s clash with Brentford in January, Thomas Frank stated that the “excellent midfielder will go to one of the bigger clubs in the future, for sure”, with Andy Naylor of the Athletic impressed by his ‘mobility’ and ‘defensive positioning’, noting that a ‘summer departure for Baleba cannot be discounted’.
Arguably, the youngster’s best performance of last season came against Manchester City in early-November, introduced as a half time substitute with the Seagulls 1-0 down, only to, as documented by James Gheerbrant of the Times, completely change the game as they roared back to win 2-1 late on, underlining that he is Brighton’s ‘most influential’ player.
Sam Blitz of Sky Sports believes that Baleba ‘could be inspired’ by Rodri, noting that the two nominally defensive midfielders are capable of impacting both ends of the pitch, so let’s analyse how the duo compare.
Minutes
2,661
81st
2,931
45th
Completed passes
1,149
70th
3,365
1st
Pass completion %
87.4%
52nd
92%
11th
Passes into final 3rd
109
57th
378
1st
Progressive passes
118
67th
376
1st
Tackles
79
25th
70
27th
Blocks
47
21st
32
88th
Interceptions
46
11th
26
73rd
Ball recoveries
197
5th
235
2nd
Firstly worth noting that, due to the fact he hardly featured in the most recent campaign, the 2023/24 season was chosen for Rodri statistics.
The table documents that the Spaniard is the pass master, ranked first for completed passes, attempted passes, passes into the final third and progressive passes; the fact his numbers are impressive shouldn’t be too surprising, as he did win the Ballon d’Or.
As for Baleba, his passing numbers are solid, if not quite as outstanding, but it is his defensive statistics that leap off the page, ranked in the top 25 last season for tackles, interceptions and blocks.
In the respective campaign analyses, both finished in the top five when it came to ball recoveries, suggesting they would form an impenetrable partnership.
Thus, as Rodri is eased back in, after a long spell on the sidelines, he’d surely love having Baleba alongside him, covering vast amounts of ground and doing a lot of the dirty work, so Man City should go all out and pay Brighton’s asking price, if they want to knock Liverpool of their perch.
Bad news for Doku: Man City preparing £87m bid for "world class" forward
As Manchester City seek to reclaim the Premier League title, they are preparing an £87m bid to sign a “world class” attacker who’s better than Doku.
ByBen Gray