Warren Aspinall Advocates for Brighton to Pursue Mason Mount
Warren Aspinall believes Brighton should be ready to play hardball with Manchester United – and aim high.
If United come calling again for Carlos Baleba, the former Seagulls midfielder says Albion ought to push for Mason Mount as part of any deal.
Mount has endured a stuttering spell at Old Trafford since his move from Chelsea in 2023, battling injuries and indifferent form. Now, with United reshaping their midfield, Aspinall can see an opening.
“I was thinking – if Baleba did go to Manchester United then I'd see if I could get Mason Mount as part of the deal,” he told the Albion Unlimited podcast.
United have just added Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos to a midfield already built around Kobbie Mainoo. That trio, Aspinall argues, will form the core of Erik ten Hag’s engine room, leaving Mount squeezed for minutes and status.
“He's not going to be in the side because they've just signed two midfield players in Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos,” Aspinall said. “Those two and Kobbie Mainoo will be starters, so where does that leave Mount? They have good players coming through in the likes of Tyler Fletcher.”
Brighton, by contrast, are juggling a different dilemma. Baleba, heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford in the summer of 2025, never got his transfer. The speculation faded, his form did too. Under Fabian Hurzeler last season, he struggled to hit the levels he had previously shown.
For now, United remain the only club with a clear, established interest in the 20-year-old. Yet their rapid double swoop in midfield raises a real possibility that Baleba stays put. If that happens, Aspinall is clear: the responsibility lands squarely on Hurzeler’s desk.
“For Baleba, the manager has to sit him down in a one-to-one situation and say, ‘look, just get your head down, do what you did not last season but the season before, and they will all come for you then’,” he said.
The praise comes quickly after the warning. Aspinall still sees the player who first caught United’s eye.
“They would all be after him because he's excellent. He's strong, powerful, breaks the lines very well. It was easy for him in certain games.”
The problem, in Aspinall’s eyes, is the noise that surrounds a young player when a club like United circles. Once a “big move” feels close, focus can slip.
“Sometimes you get a sniff from a club like Manchester United and you start to think about that big move and big payday but it has not happened,” he said. “You have to get your head down, go again, and see where it takes him.”
That is the crossroads Brighton face. Cash in if United firm up their interest and push for a proven Premier League midfielder in Mount? Or keep Baleba, rebuild his confidence and let Hurzeler shape him into the dominant presence he once looked?
“If he does stay he needs to knuckle down and he can have a great season at Brighton,” Aspinall insisted. “If he plays well, Brighton play well because he wins that midfield battle. If he is at the top of his game he makes his team-mates believe.”
For Albion, the equation is brutally simple: a fully firing Baleba lifts the entire side. The question now is whether that resurgence happens in blue and white stripes – or becomes the leverage for a bold move involving Mason Mount.
