Newcastle United have once again turned their attention to France as they look to recruit 19-year-old Carlos Baleba from Lille.
Cameroon-born Carlos Baleba is coming off the back of a strong debut season for Ligue 1 Lille and is set to be the subject of a three-way Premier League battle for his signature.
Newcastle, West Ham and Manchester United all have their eye on Baleba and appear willing to pay Lille’s asking price of £25.8million, according to Team Talk.
Man United are looking at Baleba after turning their back on Mount
The report says that it’s currently Manchester United who are the ‘especially keen’ to sign Baleba and are expected to be the first ones to make their move.
Last season Baleba made 25 appearances for Lille in all competitions, picking up two assists. Despite making 25 outings, his actual total minutes last season were under 1000 meaning he essentially played 10 full games in total for Lille, which makes his two assists stand out more.
Baleba is still under contract until 2026 at Lille so they will be in no rush to sell, hence the £28million price tag, but it appears that the Premier League trio have spotted his potential and want to take advantage of his talent ASAP.
At 19 and with just one season under his belt, he’s unlikely to be one for the immediate future and would probably come in and be loaned out immediately like we did with Garang Kuol.
Newcastle may not offer Baleba first-team football next season
That could be where Newcastle come up short, however, as if he’s to stay in Lille he will likely get more first-team playing time and could even make an appearance in the Europa Conference League.
While Newcastle and Manchester United could offer Champions League football, and West Ham, by virtue of winning the Europa Conference League could now offer him a shot at the Europa League, it would all come down to whether any of them see him as a first-team option next season.
I’m not convinced Newcastle would and that’s why I don’t believe we’ll see Carlos Baleba becoming a Magpie this summer.
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