The Blues, who had long been seen to be favorites to sign the Ecuadorian international, and he recently finalized a personal terms agreement.
All of that changed yesterday when Liverpool put in a proposal for Caicedo that would have set a new record for the highest British transfer fee at £110 million.
That offer was approved by Brighton, and everything indicated that Caicedo would move to Anfield. The 21-year-old’s destiny, though, has once more taken a shocking turn.
TEAMtalk stated that Chelsea would submit another offer for Caicedo, which is anticipated to be bigger than the £110 million Liverpool offered.
Todd Boehly has demonstrated his willingness to spend astronomical sums of money on players by paying out £107 million on Enzo Fernandez in January, which is still a British record. Chelsea’s offer for Caicedo now appears to have the potential to break the transfer record once more.
Now that the midfielder has decided against joining Liverpool in order to honor his commitment to join Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp has suffered a second devastating setback.
Significant turn as Caicedo declines Liverpool move
Caicedo has informed Liverpool that he won’t be signing for them despite having agreed to a £110 million transfer fee, according to renowned transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano.
“Moises Caicedo has just informed Liverpool that he only wants to join Chelsea,” Romano posted on Twitter.
“Caicedo has made up his mind to honor his commitment and will only accept Chelsea because personal terms have been established since the end of May.
Chelsea is prepared to make another offer to close the deal with Brighton.
Chelsea will still need to equal or exceed the £110 million sum that Liverpool and Brighton agreed upon. But in one of the most spectacular moves of the transfer window, everything now points to Caicedo joining the Blues.
Mauricio Pochettino will be extremely encouraged by this after Chelsea lost players like Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, and N’Golo Kante this summer.
So it appears that Caicedo will be crucial to the Blues this year. Liverpool will now need to shift their focus to other targets in the defensive midfield.
Romeo Lavia, for whom the Reds have previously had a £45 million offer rejected by Southampton, is the most likely replacement for Caicedo.
Although Chelsea has also made a proposal of £48 million for the Belgian, with Caicedo already committed to Stamford Bridge, Liverpool are poised to emerge as the front-runners to sign the Saints midfielder.