England top side Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign midfield Mysterio Moises Caicedo from Brighton for a British record fee of £115m. The player is one which both Liverpool and Chelsea battled for but the later won the 21-year-old heart. Liverpool earlier agreed a £111m deal for the 21-year-old Ecuador player on Friday but it seems things changed as the club said they will offer the player to the highest bidder.
Moises Caicedo Picks Chelsea over Liverpool
Moises Caicedo has always preferred Chelsea and they have finally succeeded with a bid after having a succession of proposals rejected by Brighton this summer. The fee means Chelsea will break the British record twice in 2023, following the £107m purchase of Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez in January. Caicedo, who was left out of Brighton’s squad for their season-opening win at home to Luton Town, is still to have a medical.
An initial fee of £100m will be paid with half of the additional payments said to be easily achievable, while Brighton have also negotiated a sell-on clause. From all indications Brighton never wanted to sell the player as they set a fee in excess of £100m for him and felt no-one would reach it. Chelsea are believed to have bid £80m previously.
Speaking about the sale before their 4-1 win over Luton, Brighton head coach Roberto de Zerbi said he had “already forgotten” about Caicedo, adding: “Bigger clubs can buy our players but they can’t buy our soul or spirit.”
The player was signed from Independiente del Valle for £4m in February 2021, although he did not make his Premier League debut until April 2022, but to sale him for this amount shows the club made a lot of gain from the sale of the player.
He asked to leave Brighton in the January transfer window earlier this year and Arsenal had multiple offers turned down for the midfielder before he signed a new contract until 2027 in March. Caicedo will be Chelsea’s eighth signing of the summer, following Axel Disasi, Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson, Lesley Ugochukwu, Angelo Gabriel, Robert Sanchez and Diego Moreira.
Chelsea opened their Premier League season with a 1-1 home draw against Liverpool on Sunday.
