How injured players pass their medicals as Carlos Baleba closes in on Man United transfer

Manchester United are poised to sign Carlos Baleba from Brighton, despite the midfielder carrying an injury.

talkSPORT reported last week that Man United agreed an initial £70m deal for the 22-year-old Cameroon international – but how does an injured player pass a medical?

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Can you actually fail a medical?

One might think that being injured means a player will fail their medical, but that’s not technically the case.

A medical is not an absolute pass or fail test, regardless of the player’s fitness at the time they undergo it.

In reality, players complete a medical rather than being deemed to have passed or failed it.

“You don’t pass or fail a medical,” former Arsenal, West Ham and England physio Gary Lewin told The Athletic in 2021.

“What you’ve got to think of a medical as is a risk assessment.”

Ultimately, the signing club will decide whether or not to go through with the deal.

And if the medical doesn’t throw up any red flags, a short-term injury is unlikely to scupper the transfer.

With Baleba only expected to be out until mid-September after picking up an ankle injury in Brighton‘s pre-season friendly against Strasbourg, there shouldn’t be any issues from that point of view.

How medicals can cause a transfer to be called off

What might see a proposed move fall through is an underlying medical problem.

One such recent example is Crystal Palace striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who missed out on a deadline-day switch to AC Milan in this year’s winter transfer window after a knee issue came to light.

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Fellow centre-forward Victor Boniface had a similar experience at Milan last year and stayed with Bayer Leverkusen.

And in 2017, Czech Republic star Patrick Schick underwent two medicals at Juventus, neither of which were successful – though he went on to sign for Roma instead.

On the other hand, just this month, Dayann Methalie completed his move from Toulouse to Sunderland after some doubt when further tests were required.

When Man United didn’t sign Van Nistelrooy

Back in the early 00s, Man United might have missed out on one of the greatest players of the Premier League era.

United held off signing Ruud van Nistelrooy from PSV Eindhoven in 2000 as the Dutch side refused to agree to extra medical tests.

Van Nistelrooy sustained a serious knee injury the very next day – only to join United the following year, going on to score 150 goals for the club and become an Old Trafford legend.