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Manchester United finished their pre-season with a 1-1 draw against Fiorentina (5-4 win on penalties), but it was a game that reaffirmed the club’s biggest need.

Casemiro strengthened Ruben Amorim’s case of wanting a new athletic midfield, a demand that has reached Ineos, as seen with the chase for Carlos Baleba.

Baleba is United’s top midfield target, but having spent north of £200m in the market already, it is far from an easy deal to make.

Fabrizio Romano has now shared an exciting update, however, on United’s chase for Baleba, with the club repeating the process they undertook to secure Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.

Baleba, on paper, is United’s ideal midfielder, with the only negative point right now being Brighton’s asking price for the player, prompting United to look at potential Baleba alternatives.

However, the hope remains to secure their top target, and to do that, United are doing what gave them success in the chase for Cunha and Mbeumo, and Sesko, to an extent.

In all those cases, United agreed on personal terms with the player first and ensured there were no other bidders, with the player’s desire clear.

It allowed them to negotiate without the threat of a bidding war, and weakened the selling club’s position since the player made his position clear.

Romano, speaking on his YouTube channel, shared an exciting update that United spoke to Baleba’s agents on Saturday again (August 9), and are well on their way to repeating that process.

He said: “I want to confirm that Man Utd are speaking again and again, even on August 9 [Saturday], with the agents of Carlos Baleba about the contract and salary.

“They want to advance on the player’s side. At the moment, with Brighton, it’s still not something advanced, but the contacts are still ongoing.

“The player is not closing the door to Man Utd. From what I feel, the club want to try. The contract is a topic that, for Man Utd, won’t be a problem. For sure, it’s an interesting situation.”

Romano does add to the generally exciting update that Brighton will make it difficult for United to make the deal possible, but this effort won’t go to waste.

If it doesn’t happen this summer, then Baleba moving on next summer seems a matter of when, and not if, which is where United enter the picture.

United have done a lot of groundwork on a deal for a player who will be chased by many European elites next summer, and that will allow them to steal a march.

Baleba knows United are the club who are willing to go the extra mile for him, and even if a move doesn’t happen this season, that will count for something next season.

The ideal scenario is that United manage enough sales to formulate a creative offer for Baleba, which they think is possible, hence the repeated contact with his agents and inching closer to agreement on personal terms.

Either way, United are moving better in the market than they have at any point in the past decade.