Man Utd find Fernandes’s perfect partner: The midfield sensation outperforming Baleba

Robin Bairner

• 3 Oct 2025 12:16 CDT
• 9 min read

News

Manchester United are on the right track as they hunt a new central midfielder to bolster Ruben Amorim’s options in the heart of the pitch.

It was an area that the Red Devils surprisingly neglected during the summer transfer window. Although a deal for Brighton’s Carlos Baleba was explored, it never progressed beyond a first bid that was swiftly rejected by a club adamant they would not sell.

Signing Baleba will be a costly experience. The Cameroon international is under contract with the Seagulls until 2028 and has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of (£49.47m) €56.7 million. Brighton are thought to want around twice that before they sell, though.

Unsurprisingly, Man Utd have started to explore cheaper options. Atletico Madrid’s Conor Gallagher has been touted as a potential Plan B to Baleba, while reports from CaughtOffside indicate that Brentford’s Yegor Yarmoliuk represents another possibility.

FootballTransfers can confirm these claims that Man Utd and Tottenham are interested in the 21-year-old, who signed a new deal with the Bees in the summer.

Compared

Yegor Yarmolyuk

M, DM (C)

Brentford

Yegor Yarmolyuk

M, DM (C)

Brentford

VS

Carlos Baleba

DM, M (C)

Brighton

Carlos Baleba

DM, M (C)

Brighton

€21.2M	ETV	€56.7M
€19.1M - €23.4M	ETV Range	€51M - €62.3M
21 years old (01 Mar, 2004)	Age	21 years old (03 Jan, 2004)
Ukraine	Nationality	Cameroon

Yarmoliuk was quietly a breakout star in the Premier League last season, winning the trust of Thomas Frank to such an extent that the Dane is now keen to take the young Ukraine international to Spurs.

This competition will be a major impediment to United competing for a deal, but they should not stop them from trying to sign a player who could give the midfield an immediate injection of what Amorim’s side needs: defensive solidarity.

A perfect complement to Bruno Fernandes

With the Man Utd boss persisting in using Bruno Fernandes as a central midfielder, Yarmoliuk can become the steadying force in a midfield that has spent the early weeks of the season looking porous. He was one of the leading Premier League players in his position last season when it came to open-play disruption.

The formula is simple; Yarmoliuk wins the ball and gives it to Bruno to do something with. The Portuguese’s defensive responsibilities are lessened, and he can focus on what he’s best at.

Yarmoliuk vs Premier League midfielders (2024/25): Open-play disruption

Casemiro may have enjoyed a mini-resurgence at the beginning of this season, but he’s no longer the player to unlock the best of the Man Utd captain. He’s a fading physical force, which is in contrast to Yarmoliuk, whose stamina and speed have shown a season-on-season increase at Brentford.

Indeed, the Ukrainian’s career trajectory is rapidly on the up. Already, he has surpassed the great Brazilian in the view of analytics experts SciSport, who give each player a rating based on hundreds of in-game data points. Yarmoliuk’s standing is rising with dizzying speed.

Yarmoliuk vs Casemiro: Career trajectory

If he reaches his ceiling, he will become a world-class player. In SciSports’ eyes, there are only three midfielders in the world game who are out of reach: Liverpool pair Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister, as well as Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde.

This package will be expensive then, right? Not exactly. One of the most exciting things about Yarmoliuk is that his ETV stands at €21.2m (£18.5m).

This has exploded over the course of the 18 months – it was only around €2m (£1.74m) at the beginning of 2024.

Yarmoliuk vs Carlos Baleba: Premier League stats (2024/25)

Brentford, of course, will be acutely aware of how their young prodigy is developing and price him accordingly – but it will certainly be nowhere near the price point that United have been quoted for Baleba, a player that Yarmoliuk outperformed in many key metrics last season.

There’s still a long way before a deal is done, but signing Yarmoliuk may just be one of the smartest pieces of business that United could do in the months ahead.

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