The story that involved Liverpool, Chelsea and Moisés Caicedo during the summer was a barely believable one. While Todd Boehly and co are used to transfer chaos, the Reds do not normally get involved with such publicly played-out sagas.
Eventually moving to Chelsea for a staggering fee of $141m (£115m/€131m) — marginally more than Liverpool had offered Brighton for the Ecuadorian’s services — Jürgen Klopp missed out on a player that would have been a big asset. It is fair to say that Caicedo could have expected to make a bigger impact at Anfield than he has so far at Stamford Bridge.
Level on points with Crystal Palace heading into this weekend, Chelsea is already nine points behind Liverpool in the standings. Caicedo is yet to get going in Mauricio Pochettino’s side, who looked like it was struggling to beat nine-man Spurs for around a third of Monday night’s clash at Tottenham.
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Liverpool could still do with a world-class holding midfielder and Caicedo, undoubtedly, has the potential to be that. Like Jadon Sancho, Timo Werner and several others, moving to Anfield would probably have got far more from their talent — they are not bad players, but are (or were) perhaps being stunted by joining the wrong team.
Enzo Fernández might yet fall into that category as well. And Caicedo revealed this week that another reason for him picking Chelsea over Liverpool was a phone call with the former Benfica man.
“It was a nice chat,” Caicedo explained (as quoted by Football 365). “I mean, the fact that a world champion was phoning you, one of the best midfielders in the world… receiving that call was very nice and he convinced me to come here.
“He said it was a great club, that there are many young players, there was a togetherness here. I have always enjoyed the bond in a team because I think that, if there is that bond, we can deal with any situation we may face: pressure, everything. So, that’s what motivated me to come here.”
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Just a few weeks into life at Chelsea, Caicedo is doing everything he can to publicly justify it despite his side’s position in the table. Fernández, incidentally, is another top-class player that Liverpool looked at, according to Sky Sports, but he was deemed too expensive.
And it is not as if Caicedo’s latest explanation makes a great deal of sense. Liverpool also has some of the best players in the world and there has never been any question about the team’s bond.
According to The Athletic, Klopp sent a series of text messages Caicedo’s way as he made up his mind, outlining why he wanted to sign him. Caicedo appreciated Liverpool’s interest but had already made his mind up on moving to Chelsea. Roméo Lavia later came to the same conclusion.
After listening to Fernández over Klopp, Caicedo must surely have some level of regret over the decision he made. It certainly looks for now like he listened to the wrong advice.
Between Fernández and Caicedo, Chelsea spent a whopping $271m (£222m/€253m) and has not got much value from those deals yet. For both of them, a move to Liverpool would seemingly have made a great deal more sense.
Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
