Chelsea
are actively working on a deal to sign Brighton's Moises Caicedo for a
British record transfer fee of £115m after the midfielder rejected
Liverpool.
Caicedo wants to move to Stamford Bridge after turning down the chance to
join Liverpool, despite the Reds agreeing a British record £111m fee with
Brighton.
Chelsea had been prepared to offer £100m for the 21-year-old but are now
working on upping their bid to £115m, which would break the British transfer
record fee paid by the Blues who paid £106.8m for midfielder Enzo Fernandez
from Benfica in January.
Caicedo had been expected to travel to Liverpool for a medical on Friday
after Jurgen Klopp's side had a bid accepted by Brighton following a
midnight deadline for bids on Thursday.
But Caicedo had a change of heart and told Liverpool he did not want to
join. He remained in London and has made it clear he only wants to leave
Brighton for Chelsea, who have been pursuing him all summer.
Chelsea want to sign two midfielders this summer with the west Londoners
close to an agreement with Southampton over the signing of Romeo Lavia, who
remains a Liverpool target.
One source has told Sky Sports News they are interested in signing both
Caicedo and Lavia.
The developments come on the day talks between Chelsea and Leeds United over
the signing of Tyler Adams broke down after the parties were unable to reach
an agreement.
Carragher: Big blow for Liverpool if
Caicedo doesn't join
Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher:
"If he wants to go to Chelsea, and he's given them his word and he's spoken
already to the manager, doesn't want to break that promise, then you could
say 'fair enough'.
"Liverpool have come in at a late stage as they didn't want to pay a certain
price for Romeo Lavia. The price for Caicedo is big, but Liverpool are
probably more desperate than Chelsea.
"I'm desperate for him to come to Liverpool as the need for him there is
probably greater. It's going to be a big blow.
"Caicedo should always have been Liverpool's first option, and if you
couldn't get him then fair enough, you move to Lavia as your second option.
"It feels like it's almost the wrong way around and they may have to now go
back to Southampton and pay the £50m they want for the player."
Redknapp: I'm shocked Caicedo has turned
Liverpool down, he would have been perfect
Former Liverpool captain and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp on the
Essential Football Podcast:
"I'm obviously hugely biased in this one - but this is astonishing for me!
"Normally Liverpool would always, always win this one hands down. I just
thought it was inevitable. I woke up as a Liverpool fan, very happy with
that one. But then to hear the news that he's turned Liverpool down… I'll
believe it when I see him in a Chelsea shirt.
"I thought he would look great in that red kit. I thought he would be the
perfect signing for Liverpool.
"I get the attraction of Chelsea. It's a huge club. They've won so many
things over the years. But I think in terms of the history of the clubs, I'm
amazed, especially with Caicedo joining up with Alexis Mac Allister, I
thought it would be a perfect move.
"It certainly makes it interesting for Southampton because they'll be going,
'OK, you want Romeo Lavia, you're going to have to pay top dollar for him
now. And they go cap in hand, on the phone to them saying, 'You were always
our first choice and that's been proven that he wasn't'. But that's football
sometimes and I'm sure that they'll have to go back in, in that respect."
Analysis: From tearful teen to in-demand
star
In the wake of his country's World Cup exit last year, when other players
were jetting off to high-end holiday resorts, Moises Caicedo was back in
Santo Domingo, Ecuador, playing in a local tournament on the same dusty
pitch he used as a boy.
In footage which went viral in the country, Caicedo, a rising star in the
Premier League who had just become Ecuador's youngest scorer at a World Cup,
can be seen finding the net again, only this time as a ringer for Caicedos
FC, a team made up of extended family members.
His goal, slotted in at the near post in ramshackle surroundings, helped
Caicedos FC win the tournament and was celebrated with a leap, a fist pump,
and a gesture of recognition to the few hundred spectators sitting or
leaning on fences around the pitch.
"This is Moises," Miguel Angel Ramirez, Caicedo's former coach at his
boyhood club Independiente del Valle, tells Sky Sports with a smile. "Going
back to his village, to his family, his friends, playing football, helping
everyone there. He doesn't forget his people..."
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