Liverpool would be title ‘favourites’ if they signed £115m Prem star despite Klopp’s sly dig at ex-target
Liverpool have been told that they would be “favourites” to win the Premier League had they beat Chelsea in the race to sign Moises Caicedo in the summer.
The Reds have enjoyed a brilliant start to this season as they sit third in the Premier League after 17 games. They will be top at Christmas if they beat Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal on Saturday evening.
Liverpool‘s impressive form comes after their underwhelming season in 2022/23 and their midfield overhaul during the recent summer transfer window.
They are fifth in the 2023 Premier League net spend table after paying around £150m to bring in Alexis Mac Allister, Dominic Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch.
Liverpool did not sign a natural replacement for defensive midfielder Fabinho in the summer so Mac Allister has regularly been used in a deeper role.
The Premier League giants were in the market for a natural replacement for Fabinho, though. They submitted bids for Caicedo and Romeo Lavia before they completed moves to Chelsea for £115m and £58m (including add-ons) respectively.
Caicedo has struggled at the start of this season and Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp directed a sly dig at the midfielder earlier this month when suggesting they were “lucky” after missing out on the Ecuador international in the summer.
Former Liverpool and Everton player Don Hutchinson reckons Klopp’s team would be “favourites for the league” if they had secured Caicedo’s services.
“I like Mac Allister, but he’s not a specialised number six, that’s why they were in for Caicedo,” Hutchinson said via BBC Radio Five Live.
“If Liverpool had signed Caicedo in the summer, I would’ve made them favourites to win the league, I think that’s exactly what they need someone who will sit and protect.”
Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino recently admitted that Caicedo and teammate Enzo Fernandez need to improve.
“They are young, the expectation is massive when you arrive,” Pochettino told reporters.
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“Caicedo had one season in Brighton and Enzo after three months in Europe, he was in Benfica before arriving to the Premier League. Arriving not in the best place to perform quick because they need to be part of the solution.
“They are not the cherry of the cake. When you arrive in a team that is in a building process and you’re young with not too much experience, even if you have good quality and people can see the club paid big money and only for that you need to perform, it is not like this in football.
“Some people think in this way because they don’t know about football. It’s a process.
“It’s going to be a process for different reasons. Chelsea are in a completely different reality in the last years and we need to attack this. We can’t live only thinking in the past.
“We need to keep the culture and understand we are in Chelsea and always it’s about winning, but the reality is completely different.”
