Brighton & Hove Albion sources were reportedly hoping that Moises Caicedo ended up at Liverpool rather than Chelsea.
According to Liverpool journalist Tony Evans, a Seagulls insider texted him hinting that he wanted Caicedo to join the Anfield side, though the midfielder’s agent seemingly pushed towards a move to Chelsea.
Evans said: “On Thursday someone close to Brighton texted me and said ‘I hope Caicedo comes to you, but this agent is trouble’. And he spelt out trouble in capital letters. And I’m like, ‘oh okay’. Clearly, Liverpool got done over there.”
Whilst Liverpool’s bid to sign Caicedo was out of the blue and rushed, it does now appear that the Reds could have had a chance at landing the midfielder had it not been for the player’s agent.
Although figures are yet to be published, there’s a strong chance that Chelsea’s bid for Caicedo included a bigger wage for the 21-year-old as well as a larger agent fee than what Liverpool offered.
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Indeed, whilst we don’t know for certain what happened behind the scenes, there’s a good chance that Liverpool might have been played by the Ecuadorian’s agent, who was seemingly pushing for Chelsea from the start.
Liverpool should have put the groundwork in for Caicedo earlier
Liverpool’s approach to sign Caicedo was chaotic and messy, with the Reds failing in their bid to bring the midfielder to Merseyside with Chelsea agreeing personal terms months beforehand.
And this transfer saga should be a big lesson to Liverpool that they had to move in for Caicedo much earlier in the window, with winning the player’s side something that could have shifted the transfer in their favour.
Indeed, this summer has shown Liverpool that we are now very much in a new era of football transfers, and the Reds need to get on board how things are done before they’re trailing behind more clubs in the market.