Moises Caicedo: Chelsea sign Brighton midfielder for British-record fee of £115m
Moises Caicedo has signed an eight-year deal with Chelsea; The midfielder completed medical on Monday; The Blues will pay £100m to Brighton for Caicedo, plus £15m in performance-related add-ons; Caicedo turned down a £111m move to Liverpool
Tuesday 15 August 2023 07:09, UK
Chelsea have signed Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo for a British-record fee of £115m on an eight-year contract.
Chelsea are understood to be paying an initial £100m, plus £15m in performance-related add-ons.
There is an option of a further year in Caicedo's contract and Brighton will have a sell-on clause that has been described as "significant" as part of the deal.
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Half of the add-ons have been described as "quite easily achievable", while the other half are considered "much harder" to achieve.
Liverpool agreed a £111m deal to sign Caicedo last week but the move fell through when the 21-year-old informed the club he intended to join Chelsea.
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Caicedo had been expected to travel to Liverpool for a medical on Friday after Jurgen Klopp's side had a bid accepted by Brighton following a midnight deadline for bids on Thursday.
But the Ecuador international had a change of heart and told Liverpool - who drew 1-1 at Chelsea in their opening Premier League game of the season on Sunday - he did not want to join.
Caicedo completed his medical at Chelsea's training ground on Monday.
Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said: "Moises possesses a rare midfield skill set and is a player we've been targeting for some time. We believe he will make a significant impact at Stamford Bridge this season - and in the years ahead."
Is this why Caicedo rejected Liverpool for Chelsea?
The £115m fee for Caicedo eclipses the £106.8m Chelsea paid for Enzo Fernandez when breaking the British-record transfer fee in January. Arsenal spent £105m on Declan Rice earlier in the summer.
Chelsea want to sign two midfielders this summer and are still pushing to sign Southampton's Romeo Lavia despite Liverpool agreeing a £60m deal for the Belgian.
How much have Chelsea spent?
Chelsea have now splashed a league-topping £285.9m this summer and Caicedo becomes the club's 10th signing of the window, having also signed Christopher Nkunku (£52m), Axel Disasi (£38.8m), Nicolas Jackson (£32m), Robert Sanchez (£25m), Lesley Ugochukwu (£23.1m), Angelo Gabriel, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Diego Moreira and Alex Matos (all undisclosed).
Last season, the Blues splashed a record-breaking £601.7m across both transfer windows on new signings and only recouped £61m from player sales - but the club has balanced the books so far this season.
Mauricio Pochettino's side have cashed in £232.3m in this window, selling Kai Havertz (£65m), Mason Mount (£60m), Mateo Kovacic (£30m), Christian Pulisic (£18.8m), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£18.5m), Kalidou Koulibaly (£17m), Edouard Mendy (£16m) and Ethan Ampadu (£7m).
As it stands, all those deals place Chelsea ninth in the table for net spend.
Analysis: How Caicedo turned into £115m in-demand star
In the wake of his country's World Cup exit last year, when other players were jetting off to high-end holiday resorts, Caicedo was back in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, playing in a local tournament on the same dusty pitch he used as a boy.
In footage which went viral in the country, Caicedo, a rising star in the Premier League who had just become Ecuador's youngest scorer at a World Cup, can be seen finding the net again, only this time as a ringer for Caicedos FC, a team made up of extended family members.
His goal, slotted in at the near post in ramshackle surroundings, helped Caicedos FC win the tournament and was celebrated with a leap, a fist pump and a gesture of recognition to the few hundred spectators sitting or leaning on fences around the pitch.
"This is Moises," Miguel Angel Ramirez, Caicedo's former coach at his boyhood club Independiente del Valle, tells Sky Sports with a smile. "Going back to his village, to his family, his friends, playing football, helping everyone there. He doesn't forget his people..."
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