Report: Chelsea Set British Record $146M Transfer Fee for Brighton’s Moisés Caicedo

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While Chelsea and Liverpool battled on the pitch Sunday, the two clubs were also fighting behind the scenes to land Moisés Caicedo.

Sunday’s matchup ended in a 1-1 draw, but it was the Blues who landed the Brighton midfielder in a record-setting, $146 million transfer, per multiple reports:

The Caicedo transfer saga became particularly epic over the past week.

For much of the summer, Chelsea were considered the frontrunners to land him. But on Friday, Liverpool swooped in and agreed to a £111 million ($146 million) transfer with Brighton.

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp even confirmed that agreement in a press conference.

“I can confirm the [Moises Caicedo] deal with the club is agreed, whatever that means in the end,” he told reporters. “Of course, we want the player and not just the agreement. We don’t have endless resources. We didn’t expect a couple of things to happen over the summer, but when that happened, we gave it a go. Let’s see what happens and we’ll go from there.”

The issue for the Reds was that Caicedo preferred a move to Stamford Bridge, and reportedly had already agreed to contract terms with Chelsea:

Once the Blues went back to the negotiating table and beat Liverpool’s offer to Brighton, the deal was set in motion, much to Liverpool’s chagrin.

Sunday’s matchup between the clubs was a good indication of why both wanted Caicedo. Neither club had much issues getting into their attack, in part because neither side offered much in the way of resistance in the midfield.

It was open, end-to-end football that was lovely to watch for neutrals but would spell disaster for both sides over the course of a long season, especially against top contenders like Manchester City and Arsenal.

For Chelsea, the 21-year-old will not only offer a midfield anchor to help support the defense—a much-needed addition after N’Golo Kanté was swayed by the riches of Saudi Arabia— but he’ll also allow last season’s splash signing, Enzo Fernández, more freedom to get forward.

That pair should handle the middle of the park in Mauricio Pochettino’s 3-4-3 setup. The Blues have made a lot of incoming and outgoing deals since last year’s shocking spending spree, but none more important than Caicedo.