Chelsea finally agree to pay £100m for Moises Caicedo with two penalty clauses

Chelsea knew all summer that they needed to pay £100m for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo and they have finally agreed, but their hesitation has cost them greatly in add-ons and a sell-on clause.

This will be widely billed as a British record deal but it is currently no such thing; Chelsea will pay an initial £100m for the Ecuadorean midfielder that the Seagulls bought for just £4m two years ago.

They have agreed to an extra £15m of add-ons, half of which are achievable – which could potentially take his fee past the £107m they paid for Enzo Fernandez – and a sell-on clause.

Caicedo has long agreed terms with Chelsea, making it clear that he only had eyes for Mauricio Pochettino’s side even when Liverpool agreed a £110m price with Brighton. He will sign an eight-year contract with an option for a further season.

Chelsea and Liverpool played out a 1-1 draw on Sunday which perfectly illustrated why they both need a defensive-minded midfielder and you can read 16 Conclusions on that game here.

Chelsea have finally got their man and it remains to be seen if they will still move again for Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia after they and Liverpool both had several bids turned down.

“I am surprised at the size of Moises Caicedo’s price tag but, after watching Chelsea’s draw with Liverpool, it is clear why both teams were battling to sign him from Brighton,” former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy told the BBC.

“There were plenty of positives for both teams to take away from an exciting game on Sunday, but you could see they are both badly in need of a holding midfielder.

“Now it looks like Chelsea have their man. I can understand why they see Caicedo as being the perfect player for that job, even if a British record fee of £115m seems a lot.

“He’s a wonderful talent but, even so, the kind of players I’d expect to see clubs spending so big on are what I would call game-changers – goalscorers and goal-makers, or creators.

“I’m thinking of the likes of Kevin de Bruyne or Bernardo Silva in the Premier League now or, in the past, David Silva, Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard.

“I’d understand if £100m-plus was being spent on those types in today’s market, but in the past few months we have seen clubs splash that money on Declan Rice, Fernandez and now Caicedo.

“They are all tremendous talents and I am a big admirer of all of them in so many ways, but I am just not sure you have to use so much of your budget to get a good player of that type.

“I saw how well Sandro Tonali did for Newcastle against Aston Villa and, at £55m, he cost half the price that Caicedo is set to go for.”