Reported Liverpool target Moises Caicedo is ready to hand in a transfer request and force a move away from Brighton.
The Ecuadorian has been linked with a transfer to one of the Premier League’s top sides throughout the season. And now, according to The Daily Mail, he’s ‘desperate’ to leave the South Coast club.
That desperation will reportedly now lead to the submission of a transfer request. It’s claimed that Caicedo is ‘dreaming’ of a move to London – to either Chelsea or Arsenal.
To that end, the Gunners are claimed to have had a £60m bid rejected for the 21-year-old. Undeterred, Arsenal will reportedly return with a second bid in the coming days.
Should they offer around £80m, it’s claimed that Brighton may be ‘tempted’ to let their unhappy star go.
Obviously, this is pretty terrible news from a Liverpool point of view. Long since seen as potential suitors for Caicedo, it seems the Reds are now out of the running. However, there may still be a slither of good news for Jurgen Klopp. That’s because it’s said to be touch-and-go whether Caicedo is in the right frame of mind to face Liverpool on Sunday.
Bad news for Liverpool
From a transfer point of view, this is simply bad news for Liverpool, no two ways about it.
The Reds’ interest does seem to have cooled upon hearing Brighton’s valuation of Caicedo. But nevertheless, they’re clearly big fans of his.
At a time when Liverpool are desperate for midfield additions, the Ecuador international looked like being a good fit. Even at a high price, there’s an argument that he’d be worth it for them.
Now, that looks almost like a pipe dream. There was always likely to be movement for Caicedo late in the window. His change of representation earlier in the week appeared to confirm that there could be some late movement.
But with Arsenal and Chelsea lurking, that never seemed like it was going to come from Liverpool.
Of course, there is still a slim chance that the Reds could be forced into action. They’ve sanctioned ahead of schedule moves for Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo recently when it became apparent that rivals were ready to go all in for them. But this time, everything points to Liverpool sitting it out and watching Caicedo swan off to London. You can’t win them all.