Clearly, Baleba must do a bit more than run fast, and his input must be felt in the dressing room as well as on the pitch.
Sources say an understandable initial shyness and nervousness seems to be being overcome. Baleba is not the most confident English speaker, but he has improved significantly since he moved to Brighton from Lille for £23.2m in 2023.
He has struck up a friendship with Amad Diallo. It is coincidence two young players from Africa should be going through their recovery work at the same time, but also helpful that a shared background creates a natural bond that has been built on over the last few weeks.
Amad was even laughing on the video he uploaded onto social media of Baleba poking fun at him after Cameroon beat his Ivory Coast in a friendly on 3 October.
A former team-mate of new France international Leny Yoro at Lille and Bryan Mbeumo at international level, Baleba already has other unexpected relationships at United’s Carrington training ground judging by his joking with Patrick Dorgu after the final game of last season at the Amex Stadium.
The key for United is that Baleba produces the performances that lit up his 2024-25 campaign and earned suggestions of a potential move to Real Madrid, rather than those last term which were often below-par.
Suggestions Baleba had his head turned by late interest from United in the summer of 2025 have been dismissed by Brighton sources, although an alternative reason for the dip in form has not been offered.
As it turned out, the background work done by the data and recruitment teams at Carrington 12 months ago was not wasted. After missing out on Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes, and with other options deemed unsuitable, United moved for Baleba just before the shock opening-day defeat at Hull, completing the deal just afterwards.
Given they were being quoted significantly more than £100m for the midfielder in August 2025, they regard £70m as good business.
However, Baleba is yet to step on the pitch and as Fernandes has shown in his disappointing early performances for Tottenham, any early assessment of what constitutes a good deal should at least wait for that.
