Manchester United Sign Carlos Baleba for £70m

Manchester United’s midfield rebuild shows no sign of slowing. The club have completed the signing of Brighton’s Carlos Baleba in a deal worth up to £70m (€81m), adding the Cameroon international to an already crowded engine room.

Baleba becomes United’s third midfield arrival of the summer, following Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans through the door. It is a clear statement of intent: more legs, more energy, more options. Brighton lose another prized asset; United get a powerful, progressive presence who has already shown he can handle Premier League tempo.

Celtic close in, Scales on the bench

Elsewhere in Europe, Celtic are back on Champions League duty. They face LASK tonight in a qualifier, taking a commanding 3-0 lead from the first leg into the return game. Liam Scales has to wait for his chance, named among the substitutes as Celtic look to finish the job and move one step closer to the group stage.

Parrott waits as Betis turn up the noise

In Spain, the spotlight belongs to Troy Parrott, even if his name is not on the teamsheet.

Real Betis face Valencia at Mestalla in La Liga tonight, and the Irish striker – fresh from his hat-trick in Budapest for Ireland and his move from AZ Alkmaar – could make his debut from the bench. He does not start. Cucho Hernández keeps his place up front after an 11-goal league campaign last season, and he leads the line again.

Betis line up as follows: Valles; Ortiz, Gomez, Llorente, Firpo; Fornals, Bernal, Deossa; Antony, Hernandez, Riquelme.

The club know exactly what they’re selling. In the last few minutes before kick-off, Betis’ social media channels have been busy: one post showing Parrott’s pristine No 19 jersey, another capturing a young fan holding a flag with the message, “what’s the craic Troy?” The hype train has well and truly left the station, even if the striker is starting from the sidelines.

Forsaking England, finding himself

Parrott arrives in Seville with a different aura to the teenager once touted as the next big thing in English football. As Gavin Cooney has detailed, leaving England has been the making of him.

Once he settled in the Netherlands, Parrott spoke with striking clarity about why he needed to get out. The Eredivisie’s style and pace suited his game. Just as importantly, it allowed him to step away from the glare.

“Trying to live up to the hype at such a young age, it was never going to happen that early because football isn’t so easy,” he said in 2024. “For me it was more about growing up a bit and trying to block out the noise.”

Those are not the words of a kid still chasing headlines. They belong to a player who has been burned by expectation and come back sharper.

Pellegrini’s verdict: “He is ready to play”

Manuel Pellegrini has moved quickly to cool and fuel the excitement in equal measure. The Betis manager has included Parrott in his matchday squad, but underlined how little time he has had to work with his new forward.

“Troy has not been working with us for a long time,” Pellegrini said. “He joined us only a day before the last game. But he has been working hard and he is on the list because he is ready to play.”

So the message is clear: not yet a starter, but close enough to feel the heat of La Liga from the touchline.

Champions League-bound Betis raise the bar

Betis have earned the right to be ambitious. They are in the Champions League this season and opened their league campaign with a win over Real Sociedad, decided by a Rodrigo Riquelme goal.

With Antony expected to lock down one flank and Riquelme the other, the central striker role is brutally competitive. Cucho Hernández, with those 11 goals last term, is the man Parrott must dislodge. That is the level now. No development loans, no scrapping in the Championship for West Ham. This is Mestalla, the Champions League on the horizon, and a fight for minutes in a frontline built for Europe.

Parrott’s shirt is ready. The crowd is ready. Pellegrini says he is ready. The only question left is when La Liga gets its first real look at Ireland’s latest export.