Chelsea have been warned that they will have to pay over £100m for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo after ‘a benchmark was set this summer with Declan Rice’s impending move to Arsenal’, it has been reported.
The Blues have made Caicedo their no.1 target this summer as they look to reinforce a midfield that has seen all of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and N’Golo Kante depart this summer, and have held a longstanding interest in the Ecuador midfielder.
They saw a bid turned down for the 21-year-old in January, while Arsenal also saw two offers rejected in the winter. Though Caicedo subsequently signed a new deal on the south coast which tied him to the club until 2027, Brighton hold a gentleman’s agreement with him to let him leave this summer should their valuation be matched.
That doesn’t mean he’ll be cheap though. As per the Telegraph, Brighton ‘are poised to ask for more than £100 million for Moises Caicedo’ because he is ‘seen at the Amex Stadium as comparable to Rice – and three years younger at 21′.
Chelsea have already shelled out £100m+ for a midfielder in recent transfer windows, paying a British record £106m for Enzo Fernandez in on transfer deadline day in January.
But having netted over £150m this summer, they could well look to do so again with Caicedo, with the 21-year-old viewed as the missing piece in Chelsea’s midfield and a man who, along with Fernandez, could hold a place in the Blues engine room for the next decade.
