Michael Carrick Awaits Carlos Baleba's Return
Michael Carrick will have to keep waiting for Carlos Baleba.
The 22-year-old midfielder, signed for around £70 million this summer, is not expected to play again for Manchester United until after the upcoming international break, according to Manchester Evening News journalist Tyrone Marshall.
Baleba ruled out of key run
Baleba had been targeting a return in time for the Manchester derby, but those plans have been shelved. He will miss the clash with Manchester City, Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against former club Brighton, and next Sunday’s Premier League trip to Fulham.
Only after the extended international break are United expecting to have him back in contention, with the home showdown against Tottenham on 10 October at Old Trafford now emerging as a realistic comeback date.
It is a frustrating delay for both player and club. Baleba became United’s third midfield recruit of the window and their fourth senior summer arrival, following Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Karl Darlow. While Santos and Tielemans were thrown straight in with full debuts on the opening day against Hull, Baleba’s summer injury has left him watching from the stands.
Many assumed that setback might cool United’s interest. INEOS pushed ahead anyway, committing big money and a five-year deal to a player they had tracked and tried to lure a year earlier.
Carrick’s midfield puzzle
The cost of that decision is now being felt in the short term. Carrick has been working with a stripped-back core in midfield, leaning heavily on a Tielemans–Mainoo pairing, with Santos the primary option off the bench.
It is a technically gifted trio, but it leaves an obvious gap. Without Baleba, Santos is the only natural enforcer in the squad, the only one built to destroy and drive. Even so, Carrick has preferred to start with Mainoo and Tielemans, a combination some see as too light for the more bruising battles in the Premier League.
They can pass, they can create, they can dictate. What United lack is the midfielder who can simply run through people – someone who carries the ball with power, shrugs off challenges and turns defence into attack in a few strides. That is exactly why Baleba was identified as the missing piece in Carrick’s system.
The long view
United did not sign Baleba for a month. They signed him for a decade.
The club view the Cameroon international as a long-term pillar, a player who can grow into a dominant presence over the next 10 years. The short-term irritation of his absence does not change that calculation, but it does leave Carrick juggling his options in a period when United can ill afford to drop intensity.
Supporters know it. They are already looking ahead, imagining Baleba alongside Mainoo in a new-look engine room, one that blends craft with raw power.
The wait goes on. The question now is simple: when he finally steps out at Old Trafford in October, how quickly can he become the heartbeat of Carrick’s United?
