Chelsea supporters waking up last Friday, or those brave enough to stay up into the early hours of the morning, will be met with a whole range of stark emotions.
There would have been despair, anger, frustration, confusion and an overriding feeling of déjà vu. This has happened before. We don’t even have to look back that far.
Chelsea possibly missing out on the transfer of Moises Caicedo, this time to Premier League rivals, and incidentally, Sunday’s opponents, Liverpool. But rewind just a few months and we saw something scarily similar with Manuel Ugarte and Paris Saint-Germain. Chelsea had done the majority of the groundwork, failed to get a deal secured in time, and then a third party swoops in and steals their man.
There were weeks and weeks of negotiations with Brighton to try and get a deal over the line that would see Caicedo move to Stamford Bridge for a big-money fee. From the beginning of talks, the Seagulls have been willing to let the Ecuador international leave but only if the right offer arrives their way. In this case, they have always briefed that would be £100million – no less.
Chelsea, though, as football.london had reported all summer-long, always possessed a quiet confidence they could get a deal done for £80m. The Blues thought Caicedo’s desire to move to west London, that has been there from the very start, would massively help in convincing his employers to accept a fee they deemed slightly below his true market valuation.
The Blues seemingly had a clear run at Caicedo. We had known about interest from Liverpool and Manchester United all of the way through, but Chelsea have been the only club in direct talks with Brighton over a deal for the midfielder. It was almost too good to be true.
And while supporters grew frustrated with how long Chelsea were taking to strike a deal, there was always a confidence the move would eventually be completed given there was no direct competition for Caicedo’s signature. However, things quickly changed.
Liverpool sold Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to Saudi Arabia – both unexpectedly – leaving Jurgen Klopp even shorter of options in the centre of midfield. Romeo Lavia, who now looks set to move to Chelsea, had been the Reds’ main target all summer-long and the Merseyside club saw three offers turned down by Southampton for the Belgian midfielder.
Then Chelsea submitted an offer of £48m, surpassing Liverpool’s three bids, on Wednesday evening – much to a lot of people’s shock. Then, news broke the following morning of Liverpool’s keen interest in Caicedo and that the Reds had been in direct contact with Brighton over a move for the Ecuador international. Chelsea supporters, though, did not seem too concerned given all of the groundwork their club had done in recent months and they never would have expected Liverpool to offer £110m for his services less than 24 hours later.
That became a reality, however, in the early hours of Friday morning. Brighton, rather inevitably – especially given their strong working relationship with Liverpool, accepted the British record bid.
At the time, many thought Caicedo would go to Anfield with Chelsea possibly losing out on their number one midfield target. It was just a case of agreeing personal terms with Liverpool and finalising any last details. But there was another twist – rather inevitably – in what turned out to be the transfer saga of all transfer sagas.
Caicedo said ‘no’ to Liverpool on Friday. He wanted Chelsea. The Ecuador international had said to Chelsea all along that he wishes to join them. He kept that promise, leaving Liverpool in a really sticky situation.
As Chelsea’s announcement video on Monday evening said: ‘It’s only ever been Chelsea’. That’s what it all boiled down to – Caicedo joining the club he grew up supporting.
Caicedo patiently waited over the weekend. While Liverpool had their £110m bid accepted, that was the only offer Brighton were even considering. The Seagulls, understandably, were only interested in the highest bid for their midfielder.
However, for Caicedo, it was worth the wait. Chelsea struck a deal with Brighton – rather ironically – after their 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Sunday afternoon. The transfer was announced on Monday evening.
