Carlos Baleba’s Classy Brighton Gesture Shows Man Utd the Type of Person He Is

Carlos Baleba said upon officially joining Manchester United on Tuesday that he is now with “the club of my dreams” and will see it as a “real honor” to pull on the red shirt at Old Trafford.

But the 22-year-old midfielder is nothing if not grounded and the greatest moment of his career so far was met with immense gratitude for everything that Brighton & Hove Albion gave him.

Baleba was a teenager when the Seagulls paid $31.5 million (£23.2 million) to recruit him from Lille in 2023, told on arrival he was supposed to replace Moisés Caicedo after the Ecuador international had joined Chelsea in what was then a Premier League record deal.

Three years at Brighton left such a mark on Baleba that he wanted to share that before he posted anything on social media about his new chapter with United.

In what amounted to an oral open letter to Brighton supporters and visual highlights, Baleba expressed what the club means to him and will continue to mean to him.

“I never said very much while I was here. I am not going to pretend that changes today. So, Brighton took a 19-year-old, who could not speak the language, gave him a shirt and gave him the time to grow up,” Baleba reflected. “Nobody had to do that. I will be looking for your result every week for the rest of my life. Thank you, Brighton fans.”

Baleba Thrived at Brighton by Working Hard

Carlos Baleba was tasked with replacing Moisés Caicedo. | Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Getty Images

When Baleba learned he had to find a way of replacing Caicedo, he admitted not knowing how to go about it: “Nobody tells you what you are supposed to do with that, so I did the only thing I know how to do. I trained, I went home. I came back the next day and trained again.”

It lifts the lid on the kind of character that Baleba is, someone who is dedicated to his profession and will keep his head down and work hard.

The player said he initially “did a lot of waiting” in his first season, getting minutes off the bench more often than he was starting. But it paid off when, six games into 2024–25, Baleba took possession directly from Caicedo and scored against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

“We lost 4–2, so nobody outside [Brighton] remembers that goal. I remember that was the day I stopped feeling like I was wearing somebody else’s shirt,” he said.

Everything about this just looks right 🔥

🤳 #ShotOnSnapdragon pic.twitter.com/Csop0HCjN5
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 26, 2026

Another Brighton highlight Baleba recalled was a long-distance 92nd-minute winner against West Ham United, which brought to an end a run of five Premier League games without a victory. “The whole ground went up at once. I have never heard a noise like that in my life and I do not think I will again.”

During a more difficult 2025–26 campaign, Baleba wound up getting subbed off just 22 minutes into a game against Aston Villa. It is the ultimate humiliation in soccer and he wanted the ground to swallow him up, but found comfort in the reaction from the fans.

“I sat in the dugout and could not lift my head up,” the player recalled. “You did not boo me. I have thought about that more than you know. You had every reason to and you did not.”

Through it all, Baleba remembers the simple message James Milner constantly gave him, which was simply to “enjoy it.” The youngster didn’t understand that when he first heard it, but he does now.

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