Brighton sign Lille midfielder Carlos Baleba for £25m
Then I saw his face, it’s Carlos Baleba – Brighton have completed the signing of the 19-year-old Cameron midfielder from Lille for a fee of £25 million.
Baleba becomes the second biggest signing in Albion history after Joao Pedro and has signed a five year contract through to the summer 2028.
Watch Carlos Baleba in action for Lille and you will instantly see his appeal to Brighton. He has bags of energy, can carry the ball and pick a pass out of trouble with unerring accuracy, much like Moises Caicedo.
There can be no doubt that Baleba has been brought in to replace the most expensive player in British football history. Those are some big shoes to fill, let alone for a teenager with less than one year of top level experience in France under his belt.
In the official announcement of Baleba signing on the Albion website, technical director David Weir pointed out that patience may be needed with the midfielder before he makes an impact at the Amex.
“He’s 19 and will need some time to get used to his new surroundings, our culture and the language,” said Weir. “He will get all the support he needs to make that transition and we’re looking forward to seeing him in action.”
To reach the Premier League, Baleba has followed a remarkably similar path to Yves Bissouma. Both players were spotted as teenagers in Africa and brought to France by Lille.
Neither needed long to impress in Lille’s B team before they were called up the senior squad. But whereas Bissouma spent two years playing in Ligue 1 before a move to England materialised, it has taken Baleba just eight months of top flight action and only six league starts to convince Brighton to bring him to the Premier League.
Basela joined the Ecole de Football des Brasseries du Cameroun academy at the age of 13. He attracted attention from plenty of other European clubs before Lille made their move in a double swoop alongside Burkina Faso forward Joffrey Bazie.
The second half of the 2021-22 campaign saw Basela make 13 appearances for Lille B, scoring once. He made his first team debut on the opening day of the 2022-23 season, receiving six minutes of playing time from the bench in a 4-1 win over Auxerre.
Five more Ligue 1 substitute appearances followed, one of which saw Baleba come on as a 62 minute substitute against Angers and depart the action 12 minutes later following a red card. Already, we like the sound of him.
Baleba made his first start for Lille on January 8th 2023 in a 2-0 Coupe De France third round win over Troyes. His full league debut came three days later as Lille drew 0-0 at Stade Brest, after which he was afforded more first team football.
He departs Stade Pierre Mauroy having made 21 appearances in total, contributing two assists towards the end of the previous campaign in wins over Marseille and Nantes.
Whilst comparisons with Caicedo are both justified and inevitable, there are some differences between the two. Baleba for example has been more of a box-to-box midfielder in his brief career so far.
Whether Roberto De Zerbi tries to tame some of that attacking instinct so Baleba can better fulfil the Caicedo role remains to be seen.
It was glaringly obvious in the 3-1 defeat to West Ham that Brighton need someone to offer better protection to their back for.
The frequency with which other clubs are creating good goal scoring opportunities against the Albion so far this season is somewhat alarming.
Brighton were not the only club interested in Carlos Baleba. Both Liverpool and Newcastle United have been linked this summer.
The Albion though have proven to be the only ones willing to take a gamble on paying such a fee for a player with such limited experience.
But if Baleba lives up to the hype, then the outlay could well end up looking like an absolute bargain. De Zerbi said of his latest recruit: “Carlos is a very good player. He’s very young but a specific player for our style. He will be the future of the club.”
And Brighton’s recent record when it comes to largish outlays on young players is reason enough to be confident that another gem is about to be unearthed.
Focus can now switch to securing the other primary target De Zerbi identified in his press conference before the West Ham defeat.
Brighton’s head coach said he wanted a Caicedo replacement (done) and a new attacker due to Julio Enciso having undergone surgery on a meniscus injury.
Seemingly, the club had not believed forward reinforcements to be a priority before Enciso was ruled out. Bringing somebody in with just a few days of the transfer window left will therefore be somewhat challenging. A busy 72 hours lies ahead.
