Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo has revealed why he turned down the opportunity to join Liverpool from Brighton in the summer transfer window.
Caicedo left the Seagulls to join Chelsea for an initial £100million, with the transfer fee expected to reach a British record £115m.
The Ecuadorian international’s start at Stamford Bridge has been fairly underwhelming, although we all know the ability he possesses having watched him star for Brighton.
Before leaving Brighton for Chelsea, Caicedo was the subject of a monstrous bid from Liverpool, which came out of nowhere.
The Reds lodged the £115m offer with Jurgen Klopp desperate for a defensive midfielder but the player never seemed keen on making the move to Anfield.
And Caicedo has now revealed that the Reds’ bid came too late in the day.
“I was talking with Chelsea for a long time,” the 22-year-old told Sky Sports. “It was impossible to say no to Chelsea, because they were with me supporting me.
“In the summer I suffered a lot because it was complicated to leave Brighton. They were with me, and in the last moment Liverpool called me but it was [too] late because I wanted to play for Chelsea.
“It was tough to say no to Chelsea.”
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Caicedo insists he does not feel shackled by the price Chelsea paid for him and says success under Mauricio Pochettino is “going to take time”.
“Not for the fee, because at Chelsea you always have to win,” he said. “Always, every game, if you don’t win you feel the pressure, because the fans always want to see the team winning.
“Sometimes it’s difficult [to win] because the other teams are tough as well. We know we are Chelsea, but we are a new team with young players. Personally, I’ve only been here four months, everything is new for me.
“I think it’s about time. It’s going to take time.”
Caicedo has played next to Enzo Fernandez – who also cost the Blues north of £100m – and Pochettino recently admitted that both players need to improve.
“The relationship between them needs to improve of course, between them and individually also.
“They are young, the expectation is massive when you arrive.
“Caicedo had one season in Brighton and Enzo after three months in Europe, he was in Benfica before arriving to the Premier League. Arriving not in the best place to perform quick because they need to be part of the solution.
“They are not the cherry of the cake. When you arrive in a team that is in a building process and you’re young with not too much experience, even if you have good quality and people can see the club paid big money and only for that you need to perform, it is not like this in football.
“Some people think in this way because they don’t know about football. It’s a process.
“It’s going to be a process for different reasons. Chelsea are in a completely different reality in the last years and we need to attack this. We can’t live only thinking in the past.
“We need to keep the culture and understand we are in Chelsea and always it’s about winning, but the reality is completely different.”
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