Manchester United may face further disappointment in their search for a Premier League-proven star to replace the departing Casemiro.

Ederson has already been signed, but the Brazilian was added to increase the squad’s depth rather than him being the ideal defensive midfield successor.

Elliot Anderson and Sandro Tonali were the top two choices, but the Red Devils were priced out of both deals.

What really hurt INEOS was Tottenham Hotspur’s late hijack of the Mateus Fernandes deal, with Spurs blowing United out of the water with their bumper offer.

United’s catastrophic window so far

With almost all midfielders costing a bomb, Bournemouth have decided to up their demands for Alex Scott, who is reportedly next on United’s radar.

With targets falling off the board at rapid pace, the 20-time English league champions might be forced to go back in for a name they failed to sign last summer.

Carlos Baleba was identified as Casemiro’s successor by United’s co-owners and despite personal terms being agreed, Brighton & Hove Albion’s demands proved insurmountable.

The Seagulls had quoted £100 million to let the 22-year-old leave, and United must have thought that the asking price would reduce significantly given the Cameroonian struggled to replicate his best form for the entirety of last season.

Carlos Baleba interest remains, but Brighton’s stance causing problems

The Manchester Evening News have claimed that the reason why United are not pushing harder for Carlos Baleba is because Brighton still value their midfielder at the same price.

“Carlos Baleba is arguably the third midfielder United have stepped away from due to a high asking price in the last 12 months. They were interested in signing him 12 months ago, but were put off by Brighton’s demands of £100million.

“They remain interested in Baleba but there has been little sign of movement so far this summer. Despite the 22-year-old enduring a difficult campaign in Sussex, Brighton haven’t significantly dropped the price they want for a sale.”

INEOS’ dilemma: Low-cost alternatives or look beyond the Premier League

If INEOS are unable to change Brighton’s stance, they have a couple of low-cost alternatives in the form of Tyler Adams and Sander Berge on their radar, or they could look beyond the Premier League.

Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga, and Ayyoub Bouaddi are just some of the names that have been linked with a switch to United.

Feature image Ryan Pierse via Getty Images

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Ayantan Chowdhury

After failing to become a professional footballer, Ayantan switched to the next best thing: writing about the greatest football club in the world. He has extensive sports journalism experience, having worked for over 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25