Chelsea outbid as second club swoop for Moises Caicedo

Chelsea’s attempts to sign Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo have taken a blow as it has emerged that a club have outbid the Blues for the Ecuadorian midfielder this summer.

Caicedo has been Chelsea’s no.1 target to strengthen a midfield that has seen all of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and N’Golo Kante leave this summer.

The Blues have been thwarted, however, by Brighton’s seemingly extortionate price tag. It is reported that the Seagulls have slapped a massive £100m fee on the head of their 21-year-old star, with Declan Rice’s Premier League record move to Arsenal being used as a benchmark for his services.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side have seen four bids turned down in a bid to soften that stance, most recently including a bid worth £80m.

Now, as per the Athletic, a second club have come calling and have tabled an offer.

‘The bid, from an as yet unidentified club, is said to surpass Chelsea’s most recent offer for the 21-year-old Ecuador international that was worth a total of £80million’, they report, though it was rejected as it still fell short of Brighton’s £100m asking price.

It is unclear which club the bid could originate from, with Liverpool’s focus thought to be on the signing of Romeo Lavia, while Arsenal and Tottenham are unlikely to have the funds to table an offer in excess of £80m and Manchester United are thought to be in a similar boat.

Nonetheless, the news could well force Chelsea into upping their own offer should they be serious about landing the youngster, with the start of the season now just 10 days away and a clear lack of quality in the Blues engine room.

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