Man United will be adding £184m players to squad when next two transfers completed

Man United will be adding £184m players to squad when next two transfers completed

Manchester United transfer news as Benjamin Sesko talks continue amid reported interest in Carlos Baleba

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim (Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)

Manchester United have started to ramp up their summer transfer activity and are closing in on the signing of that all important striker they've craved last season, while alsolooking to bolster their midfield ranks.

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As reported by the Manchester Evening News, United have now sent an opening bid to RB Leipzig in the hope of landing Benjamin Sesko.

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They have battling with Newcastle United for the striker in recent days and there is increasing confidence United will win the race purely based on the player's impending decision.

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The Athletic claims that United have been in contact with Brighton, via intermediaries, to establish the conditions to bring midfielder Carlos Baleba to Old Trafford.

That said, the Seagulls' chief executive Paul Barber has brushed this off as mere speculation.

Both players, 22 and 21 years of age respectively, are highly-rated talents plying their trade in the Bundesliga and Premier League. It therefore comes as no surprise to see this reflected in estimates of their transfer values.

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The CIES Football Observatory would place Sesko's transfer value anywhere between €107m (£93.4m) and €124m (£108.2m), and they also suggest Baleba to be worth between €75m (£65.4m) and €87m (£75.9m).

Add the two players' values together and at the upper end of the range, United's targets come back at a combined value of €211m (£184.1m).

Whether Sesko and Baleba could be considered value for money can therefore come down to a few factors, the most obvious being how much is paid in comparison to these benchmarks.

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The Manchester Evening News understands the amount offered for Sesko was €85m (£74m) in total, split €75m (£65.3m) plus €10m (£8.7m) in add-ons. That is immediately lower than even the lower range of the Slovenian international's CIES estimated value.

And in Baleba's case, there is thought to be no release clause for the Cameroon international and it is speculated a deal could exceed £100m.

This is already much higher than his CIES estimated value but combined with the Sesko bid, if that ends up successful, the two figures balance out under the £184m worth of combined transfer value.

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