Liverpool were on the verge of beating Chelsea to Moises Caicedo’s signing
CFC fans went into an absolute uproar. How could their main target, who we’ve spent months trying to convince to join the Blues, be snatching up right from under our nose. It was a dark time. Fingers were pointed at the board. People were calling for resignations, our main defensive midfield target was gone. Not only that, many were keen to point out the fact that Caicedo was a diamond in the rough at that position and now he was gone.
Then the tides changed, Caicedo announced that he committed himself to Chelsea and that’s where he was going to go. Ball back in CFC’s court. All they had to do was pay more than what Liverpool offered. In the end, Chelsea broke the British transfer record, previously held by the West London outfit, to get Caicedo. It cost the Blues a whopping £115 million. It was finally over. CFC got the piece to their puzzle they have been searching for all this time. While everyone rejoiced, there were still a couple of eyebrows that were raised during this ordeal.
The first being Brighton’s asking price and Chelsea’s reluctancy to meet it for months. It was very public knowledge that Brighton valued Caicedo at £100 million, and CFC put in three separate bids over the course of just over two months. Each bid was rejected as it wasn’t close to Brighton’s asking price. Until Liverpool came in and put in a bid over £100 million.
It was only then that Chelsea tried their luck at £100 million. The main question becomes, why did the Blues wait so long to match Brighton’s valuation if in the end, they were going to pay it anyway. CFC could have had the deal wrapped up months ago, if they just put in the correct bid. Did they not want Brighton to be in the driver’s seat? Did they think they could maybe save a few million by low balling? Whatever the answer, Chelsea ended up paying more than what Brighton originally was asking for.