Carlos Baleba: From honing skills with a tin can to Brighton move

And the 19-year-old former Lille midfielder, who the Seagulls hope can replace Moises Caicedo, used to spend hours copying Ronaldinho’s tricks and was even compared to Maradona in his days as a winger.

Baleba joined the renowned Cameroon Breweries football school at the age of 13, the academy that has produced such world stars as Samuel Eto’o, Rigobert Song and Geremi.

Roberto De Zerbi will want to nurture his new star and play him when the time is right, with Baleba – who insists he “wants to be the best”, having only made 21 appearances in Ligue 1 for Lille.

Carlos Baleba joined Albion on Tuesday from Lille (Image: Paul Hazlewood/BHAFC)

But as well being one for the future it seems certain that Baleba will be pitched into action in the Premier League, Europa League and domestic cup competition sooner rather than later.

Although Baleba can play the holding midfielder role, he may have even more in the locker than Caicedo, the player Brighton sold to Chelsea for a British record fee of £115million.

And Brighton have snared him despite interest at various times from Arsenal, Liverpool and AC Milan.

The fee is understood to be €27 million euros, more than £23 million pounds.

But Manchester United looked front-runners to get Baleba – with some irony there, since they could also have signed Caicedo for £5million before the Seagulls stepped in.

Baleba, speaking to French website Onze Mondial, said: “They used to call me Maradona when I was a winger. I used to score a lot of goals from there.

“My speciality, my best move was the ‘virgule’ [rolling ball round in a semi-circle]. I copied it off Ronaldinho. I mastered the technique when I was facing the goal, or by the corner flag.

“I did some damage with it. I don’t really do it any more, but I have not forgotten how. And I could still do one, so watch out.

“One match as a kid I was running towards goal and the goalkeeper rushed out and crashed into me.

“I was hurt and fell, my thigh hurt really bad. I couldn’t run or even walk that well – so they moved me into midfield from the wing.

“I felt comfortable there, and had freedom. I could overcome opponents with my technical ability. And once there, I stayed there and never moved away.

“When I go on the pitch, my mindset is to win everything and destroy everything in my way. I want to be the best. I always tell myself ‘do what you know how to do’. I don’t feel much pressure.”

At the Breweries academy, Baleba was coached by his father Eugene – himself a former player with Saint Etienne, before heading to South Africa.

Baleba added: "He took me in charge when I was 14 years old by proposing me programs of weight training and races.

“I was training with the Academy's under 18s. That's when I started to play my current position, box to box.”

Former Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea striker Eto’o, now the Cameroon president, has already seen teenager Baleba delay his own entry to the full international team until he felt ready. But that natural progression is also looming.

Sportswriter Andrew Gibney has followed Baleba's progress since he joined Lille in January 2022.

"Carlos is a high-energy, but very raw, young midfielder. He has the potential to be whatever he wants to be. In his brief time at Lille, he's played as a defensive midfielder, in the box-to-box role, and even last season, against Marseille as a centre forward,” he told Brighton and Hove Albion.

“Yves Bissouma is the most obvious player he is most similar to. I'd say they have a lot of similarities, but Carlos looks a tad more agile in possession.

"He's not afraid to push the game forward, playing on the front foot and spreading the play. He's not as creative as someone like Lille's Angel Gomes, but he's not looking to just play an easy five-yard pass.

“His biggest weakness is his inexperience. He’s only started a small amount of games for Lille and only completed 90 minutes once,” said Gibney. “It is hard to predict how he will do [in the Premier League] because of that."