Soccer

Chelsea ready to raise Moisés Caicedo offer after Liverpool agree British record €127m deal

Deal would be British transfer fee record as Liverpool aim to seal Brighton midfielder’s signing on Friday

Moises Caicedo of Brighton & Hove Albion in action. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty
Moises Caicedo of Brighton & Hove Albion in action. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty
Jacob Steinberg
Fri Aug 11 2023 - 12:27

Chelsea are prepared to raise their offer for Moisés Caicedo in an attempt to beat Liverpool to the signing of the Brighton midfielder.

Liverpool have had a €127 million (£110 million) offer accepted by Brighton and are hoping to guard against a late hijack by concluding the deal swiftly. However it is understood Chelsea have not given up their pursuit of Caicedo, their top summer target, and are ready to bid more than £110m to land the Ecuador international.

Chelsea have been frontunners for Caicedo and submitted an offer worth up to £100m on Thursday night. However they were stunned by Liverpool muscling in on the deal for the 21-year-old earlier in the day. Liverpool are aiming to discuss personal terms with Caicedo and to complete the transfer on Friday after their higher bid was accepted by Brighton, but the saga is not over.

The situation remains unpredictable. Brighton had set a deadline on Thursday night for bids and said they would take the highest one. It is unclear whether Chelsea have left it too late.

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Caicedo was in London on Thursday, as was one of his representatives, and was said to favour a move to Stamford Bridge. There has long been an expectation that Chelsea, who have been in talks with Brighton all summer, would get the deal done.

Chelsea need to strengthen in midfield after losing Mason Mount, N’Golo Kanté, Jorginho, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mateo Kovacic this year. They are due to sign Tyler Adams from Leeds for £20m and have failed with a £48m bid for Southampton’s Roméo Lavia, who was also a Liverpool target. Chelsea missed out to Paris Saint-Germain in the race to sign Manuel Ugarte from Sporting Lisbon.

Liverpool are also strengthening in midfield, having lost Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho. They have signed Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton and Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig. Chelsea host Jürgen Klopp’s side on Sunday.

Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Chelsea for both sides’ Premier League opener, Klopp said: “I can confirm the deal with [Brighton] is agreed, whatever that means because we want the player and not any kind of agreement, we will see.

“We didn’t think about that before the summer, to be honest, and then it happened. We gave [attempting to sign Bellingham] a go and the club was really stretched. We will see [what happens with Caicedo].

“I’ve said what I know,” he added. “Let’s do it step by step, let’s see what happens in the next hours or days.”

Fulham are hopeful of clinching a deal to sign Callum Hudson-Odoi after making a new bid for the Chelsea winger. Hudson-Odoi has been waiting for permission to leave his boyhood club and wants to join Fulham, who have had one offer turned down.

The 22-year-old was not involved in Chelsea’s preseason tour of the USA and has not been training with the first team. It is understood Chelsea have been looking for about £8m for Hudson-Odoi, who has a year on his deal. The size of Fulham’s bid is unknown and there has been no confirmation on whether it has been accepted.

Two other clubs are interested in Hudson-Odoi but Fulham are favourites. Hudson-Odoi was targeted by Bayern Munich in 2019 and 2020. His development stalled after a serious Achilles injury in 2019 and he spent last season on loan at Bayer Leverkusen. – Guardian