Chelsea Raid Brighton Again After Liverpool Fail To Get Signing Over The Line
Since new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly and the Clearlake Capital group arrived at Stamford Bridge, fans have seen some incredible spending and plenty of changes at first team level, but surprisingly Brighton and Hove Albion have become a bit of a stable fixture in all of Chelsea’s changes.
Former left back Marc Cucurella made the switch himself in August of last year, whilst former goalkeeper Robert Sanchez joined on last month. We must not forget former gaffer Graham Potter who had a seven month spell in charge having joined them in February.
With manager Mauricio Pochettino now at helm, and their spending showing few signs of slowing down, the latest capture from the Amex Stadium is Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo, who saw his transfer go through late on Monday afternoon.
For fans who like a small flutter on their football, a Link to Website GGBET would probably give some interesting odds on the player not being their last signing of the summer, and there is probably some options on who may move for a fee greater than Caicedo’s before next summer arrives.
The 21 year old make the switch for a reported £100 million, and with add ons, the fee could rise to a claimed £115 million which would be a new British club record.
“I didn’t have to think twice when Chelsea called me, I just knew I wanted to sign for the club. It’s a dream come true to be here and I can’t wait to get started with the team.”
The deal has not been without some controversy though, the player had originally struck a deal to make a £111 million move to Anfield and Liverpool, but he rejected their advances late on, instead showing a preference to make the move to London.
Chief executive officer Paul Barber admitted it had been a difficult, and busy weekend, after Liverpool’s offer had been initially accepted on Friday.
“For any footballer to have the chance to play at Anfield, you would imagine they’d be running up the M6. Obviously in that situation we’re in a slightly difficult position because we negotiated a deal, we spent many days working with Liverpool to get a deal agreed. But at the point it was clear that he wasn’t going to Liverpool, then we had to go into a different mode. Having negotiated a British-record transfer, we’ve then got to do it again three days later, which is unusual to say the least.”
Brighton have certainly struck a hard bargain with Chelsea here, and the sums involved are eyewatering when you consider he only joined them back in February 2021 for £4 million, but speaking in a joint statement, Chelsea co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley feel the fee is justified, and having tied Caicedo to an eight year contract (with a 12 month option in Chelsea’s favour on top of that) they more than feel they will get their money’s worth out of the youngster.
“Moises has proved himself as a standout player in European football over the past 18 months.”
Having finished 12th last season, Pochettino’s job is a big one and Caicedo becomes the eighth arrival of the summer following on from Axel Disasi, Christopher Nkunku, Nicolas Jackson, Lesley Ugochukwu, Angelo Gabriel, Robert Sanchez and Diego Moreira.
But given the spending, and the fact that Chelsea have already seen the departures of Mateo Kovacic, Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ethan Ampadu, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Abdul Rahman Baba and Cesar Azpilicueta – the safe bet is that their business is not over yet.
