Forget Carlos Baleba: Man United can solve midfield worries by snatch £50m dream signing instead

Manchester United may have spent an extraordinary amount of money to fix their ailing attack this summer, but one key area of the team remains entirely unaddressed – the midfield, which has been a major issue for both Ruben Amorim and Erik ten Hag over the past two seasons.

Amorim’s system calls for two midfielders who can cover vast amounts of ground quickly and effectively, shutting down opposing attacks at the source and quickly turning possession into attack – but the players he has at his disposal lack the physical traits or natural playing style to make it work. He has midfielders intended for a different manager’s tactics than his own, and needs to find a player who fits his vision and methods.

The preferred solution, as has become clear in recent days, would to sign Brighton & Hove Albion’s Carlos Baleba, but with the Seagulls reportedly demanding over £100m for the young Cameroonian a deal seems somewhat unlikely to be struck before September.

TBR Football are among outlets who claim to know the other names on United’s shortlist and while some seem rather implausible (Javi Guerra, for instance, has just signed a new contract with Valencia) one name has cropped up on a number of occasions and ticks all of the same boxes that Baleba would – Lamine Camara. He might also be available for a fraction of the price. But does he have what it takes to solve Amorim’s midfield issues?

Why Lamine Camara is precisely what Manchester United need this summer

The 21-year-old Senegalese international first made his name while playing in France with Metz, going viral after scoring a quite astonishing goal from his own half against AS Monaco – the team that would go on to buy him last summer for €15m (£12.9m).

It isn’t his goalscoring that sets him apart, however, but his ability to cover enormous amounts of space quickly and effectively. He has the ceaseless energy of a player like N’golo Kanté and forces plenty of turnovers right across midfield, averaging over five ball recoveries per game in Ligue 1 last season along with over four combined tackles and interceptions every 90 minutes. Those are impressive numbers.

Camara is also becoming an increasingly capable creator as well as a destroyer. He registered seven league assists last season (and set up a goal against England in Senegal’s historic victory at the City Ground in June), and the breadth of his passing range has expanded rapidly over the past two seasons.

Where many ball-winning midfielders prefer to keep their passing simple, Camara routinely looks for ways to get the ball downfield quickly to tee up attacks, and while he doesn’t look to take opposing players on with the ball at his feet particularly often, he is always looking for opportunities to offloads possession at speed before getting upfield to support the counter-attacks he has often started himself.

That makes him precisely the sort of player that Amorim sorely needs – a midfielder who can get right across the midfield to win possession for 90 minutes and who can operate as a box-to-box playmaker when his team has the ball.

There are some limits to his game, of course, and in particular one probably shouldn’t believe the exaggerated claim on his Wikipedia page which states that “his free-kick-taking ability is akin to James Ward-Prowse”, given that he has never scored a free-kick goal in a senior domestic, continental or competitive international match. Citation needed, indeed.

Camara probably doesn’t need anyone to gently massage his online reputation, however. He is already operating at a very high level on and off the ball and has plenty of room to develop further. Much the same could be said of Baleba, of course, but Camara would likely cost far less – but will United get a deal done this summer?

Will Manchester United sign Camara this summer – or any other midfielder?

With a deal for Baleba looking like a relatively distant prospect at the moment, it’s reasonable to assume that United will be working on other signings – but the links to Camara, while persistent, can’t be described as especially solid or as being any more tangible than those to other players.

A number of reports have suggested that United are monitoring the Monaco man, but there are no suggestions from any reliable sources that a bid has been made or that contact has been established with the midfielder’s representatives.

Still, the link with Camara is perhaps more plausible that those with players like Guerra, who was repeatedly suggested by the Spanish media but who is now staying in Valencia, or Barcelona’s Fermin López, another players whose name has cropped up a lot but who has made it abundantly clear that he intends to remain at the Camp Nou.

Reports over the past few months have put a likely asking price for Camara anywhere between £30m and £50m, which is more of a suggestion that nobody knows what he might cost than anything else, but Monaco will certainly be willing to sell their assets for better prices than Brighton will – and even at the upper end of the guesses we’ve seen, he would be worth less than half as much as Baleba.

Still, we remain at a point at which United’s interest is rumour and not established fact. They have been monitoring Camara but have yet to take that any further, and may not do so – but the Senegalese midfielder lines up with Amorim’s needs so neatly that it would make sense for United to be in the market before the transfer window closes in a couple of weeks. A bid for Camara may be mere conjecture, but it’s logical conjecture.

Right now, United’s first priority is selling their unwanted players such as Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho, Rasmus Højlund and Antony, and the fees they receive will largely dictate what they can spend and consequentially which players they target before the window closes.

Perhaps they will find the funds to buy Baleba after all – but if they fall short, then Camara seems like the perfect back-up plan. He has everything that Manchester United need in his boots and room to improve. Perhaps signing him would simply be too sensible for a club that often seem to want to do things the hard way…