Having just sold Moises Caicedo to Chelsea in a £115M deal that still has Liverpool fans gnashing their teeth, Brighton have set their sites on Lille 19-year-old Carlos Baleba as the man to replace their departed defensive midfielder.
For some Liverpool fans, this begs a seemingly simple question: if Liverpool can’t have Caicedo, why don’t they simply go and sign Baleba, aka Brighton’s rumoured intended replacement for him, instead. Now, it seems the rumour mongers agree.
At least according to The Mail and a smattering of even less well regarded outlets today, that’s just what Liverpool are at the very least considering, though it’s worth point out up front Baleba is a 19-year-old with 22 total senior appearances.
If fans quite rightly thought Southampton’s Roméo Lavia wasn’t prepared to be a week-in, week-out starter for a club with aspirations for silverware, well, Baleba’s a long, long way behind where Lavia is in his development.
Still, if Liverpool were to sign a more veteran player for the holding role there might be a case for spending £15M to sign the promising youngster—though doing so would only make sense if Stefan Bajcetic is seen as more of an eight.
Baleba simply isn’t ready for a starting role at Liverpool now. It’s far from certain he’s even ready for that at Brighton. Still, it’s easy to imagine a world where in two or three years he’s starting regularly for one of England top sides.
