Romano reveals Caicedo has told Liverpool ‘that he only wants to join Chelsea’ this summer
Fabrizio Romano claims that Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo has informed Liverpool “that he only wants to join Chelsea” this summer.
It is understood that Liverpool have swooped in and had a substantial offer of around £110m accepted for the 21-year-old Ecuador international, who is attracting significant interest from Chelsea this summer.
Brighton held firm on their valuation of a player who joined them for just £4m from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle in 2021, and it remains to be seen whether Chelsea will match Liverpool’s bid.
The fee is upwards of the previous British record of £107m that Chelsea paid for Enzo Fernandez in January and dwarfs Liverpool’s own highest transfer payment of £75m for Virgil van Dijk in 2018.
Jurgen Klopp has seen Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita and James Milner depart the club this summer but Liverpool have signed Caicedo’s former Brighton team-mate Alexis Mac Allister for £35m in June.
But he might now struggle to reunite the pair as transfer expert Romano has now revealed that Caicedo has chosen to “keep his word” to Chelsea by telling Liverpool he only wants a move to Stamford Bridge this summer.
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Romano wrote on Twitter: “Moisés Caicedo has just informed Liverpool that he only wants to join Chelsea! #CFC Caicedo has decided to keep his word and only accept Chelsea as personal terms were agreed since end of May. Chelsea, set to bid again in order to get deal done with Brighton.”
Klopp was asked about a potential deal for Caicedo in his pre-match press conference on Friday with the German confirming an agreement with Brighton.
The Liverpool boss said: “First and foremost I was told that I can confirm the deal with the club is agreed, whatever that means, and then the agreement with the player we will see.
“We are a club that does not have endless resources, and some things we didn’t expect happening in the summer, Hendo, Fab, we didn’t think about these things [selling them] before the summer to be honest.
“Then it happened and we gave it a go and the club was really stretched, to be honest. I cannot and will not share any more than that.
“Let’s see what happens and then we go from there.”
Asked if Caicedo is having his medical today, Klopp replied: “I cannot say, I don’t know. That’s the truth.”