The agent of Moises Caicedo has revealed that he chose to join Chelsea despite Liverpool having a “more established and stable project”.
During the summer, there was a well-publicised transfer battle between the West London club and the Reds in pursuit of the former Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were looking to acquire a defensive-minded midfielder and were in discussions with Southampton in the race to sign Romeo Lavia. They then turned their attention to Caicedo and had a club-record £110m bid accepted for the Ecuador international.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side, who held a long-standing interest in Caicedo, won the race to sign him before also adding Lavia to their ranks, while Liverpool moved for Wataru Endo from Stuttgart before Ryan Gravenberch arrived on deadline day.
Liverpool losing out on Caicedo was viewed as damaging for the club as they saw what would have been a British-transfer record fee failing to come to fruition.
Caicedo’s agent, Manuel Sierra, has now admitted that the offer presented by Liverpool was ‘dizzying’ but Chelsea’s loyalty in their pursuit of the 21-year-old swayed their decision.
“In the end, it’s very complicated,” he said. “Imagine that you’re being written to and called by Jurgen Klopp, that Liverpool is calling you.
“We’re talking about something really big, one of the best teams in the world, just like Chelsea. Well, with a more established and stable project than what Chelsea has today, which is a very ambitious project looking ahead to two years.
“So, when Liverpool comes and approaches you in that way, obviously Moises gets dizzy, I even get dizzy myself, and he says: ‘Man, we must be doing something right, you know.’
“But Chelsea was by our side all along, asking us, not for much time, they were asking for an hour, I mean, just an hour, so that Brighton could tell them the conditions to match the offer.
“As I said, they were given an hour, which turned into two days of negotiation. Also, because they had the handicap that the first game of the season was Chelsea vs. Liverpool, it would have been a bit awkward to present it on the day they play against each other.
“It’s like an unwritten agreement to not laugh in each other’s faces. So, in the end, after the game ended, they gave us the green light, he passed the medical examination, and on Monday, we were presenting him.”
Sierra continued to delve into Caicedo’s side of the story and detailed that despite Liverpool “always” being interested in the midfielder’s services following conversations, at the end of the season the trail went cold.
The transfer window saw Liverpool move away from their pursuit of Jude Bellingham, signing Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in the process.
A spanner was subsequently thrown in the works when Jordan Henderson and Fabinho were convinced by the prospect of playing in Saudi Arabia, accelerating Liverpool’s pursuit of Lavia and Caicedo.
“Liverpool was always interested in Moi (Caicedo),” Sierra added, speaking to Futbol sin Cassette. “The truth is, we had meetings during those months from January to May. But after May, we never heard anything more.
“The first thing we were told is: ‘Tomorrow, you have to go to Liverpool for a medical.’ Of course, what’s our reaction going to be if we haven’t negotiated, haven’t talked, haven’t seen anything at all?
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