How Chelsea beat Liverpool to Moises Caicedo and Romeo LaviaSimon Johnson, Andy Naylor and more Aug 23, 2023
It was the answer Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp did not want to hear.
Moises Caicedo had just sent a text message explaining that, though he appreciated Liverpool’s desire to buy him, he did not want to move to Anfield and was only looking to join Chelsea.
Klopp had reached out to the midfielder for the first time hours earlier after Liverpool agreed a £111million ($141.3m) deal with Brighton to sign the Ecuadorian late on the evening of Thursday, August 10. With the fee element sorted out, Klopp entered the fray by launching a charm offensive with a series of messages making it clear how just much he admired Caicedo as a player and how much he wanted the 21-year-old to play for him.
It is normal for a manager to do this. In fact, many do it before they are supposed to. But Liverpool had played by the rules and the time had come for Klopp to make clear his appreciation for the midfielder’s talent.
But Caicedo’s mind was made up. He wanted the move to Chelsea, and nothing else.
The London club announced they had completed a deal for a club record £115million ($146.3m) the following Monday. To make matters worse for Liverpool, Chelsea then also beat them to the acquisition of Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia a few days later.
It brought an end to an extraordinary transfer saga involving two of the Premier League’s biggest clubs that saw several twists and turns, and left many asking how Chelsea could continue to spend such eye-watering amounts, whether Liverpool’s transfer strategy was flawed and just how more spice will be added to an already intense rivalry. Chelsea’s relationship with Brighton has also been put further to the test.
Here, The Athletic charts how:
Prolonged Caicedo discussions frustrated Brighton and Chelsea
Chelsea were taken by surprise by Liverpool’s bid for the Ecuador midfielder
Liverpool’s move for Caicedo damaged their own chances of buying Lavia
Eden Hazard and Caicedo played a role in Lavia moving to Stamford Bridge
This is the tale of Chelsea and Liverpool’s pursuit of the same midfielders — and how the Londoners came out on top.
Before delving into the main drama, which played out over the best part of a week, some background.
Nobody should be that surprised these two clubs ultimately competed for the same players in the market. This year may not have started out with the plan to completely rebuild their respective midfields, but that is what they have ended up having to do.
Chelsea began their process with the sale of Jorginho to Arsenal in January and followed up in the summer with the departures of N’Golo Kante (Al Ittihad), Mateo Kovacic (Manchester City), Mason Mount (Manchester United) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek (AC Milan).
Liverpool set out to refresh their squad, too. Mount was one of their targets — the manner of their pursuit causing Chelsea some angst — before the England international made clear his preference to move to Old Trafford. However, they were successful in acquiring Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton and RB Leipzig’s Dominik Szoboszlai to operate in advanced midfield positions.
At the resumption of pre-season training in July, a defensive midfielder did not seem to be high on the agenda. Yes, Liverpool were weighing up whether to sign a long-term successor to Fabinho. There had been a gentle inquiry made to Southampton about Lavia’s situation, but it was far from certain they would buy a third midfielder in this window.
That all quickly changed, though, when Fabinho and captain Jordan Henderson were persuaded by the prospect of earning fortunes to swap the Premier League for the Saudi Pro League with Al Ittihad and Al Ettifaq. Klopp had been preparing for the season with the duo on board, but they departed at the end of July. Suddenly, buying a new No 6 became a necessity, especially as neither Thiago nor young defensive midfielder Stefan Bajcetic would be fit for the start of the season as they completed their rehabilitation from long-term injuries.
When it became clear Fabinho was going to be sold, Liverpool’s data department started passing on information about possible replacements. The three names high on the list were Caicedo, Lavia and Aston Villa’s Boubacar Kamara.
Yet even at that stage of the summer, nobody could have predicted that Liverpool and Chelsea would go head to head as much as they did. Indeed, there was a general assumption in the weeks which followed that the spoils were going to be shared — that Chelsea would end up with Caicedo and Liverpool would secure Lavia.
One key difference was Chelsea wanted both midfielders, even after the purchase of Lesley Ugochukwu from Rennes for €27.5million (£23.5m; $29.8m) at the start of August. Liverpool only required one of them.
Chelsea’s data team showed how the duo could complement each other as a No 6 combination. Primarily, they saw Lavia’s strengths as a midfielder in possession, and Caicedo’s forte out of possession.
Chelsea have admired Lavia for a long time. They tried to sign him on deadline day 12 months earlier and had monitored his progress thereafter.
But Caicedo was always their first choice. They had a £55million bid turned down by Brighton in January and a decision was then taken to focus all their efforts on Benfica’s Enzo Fernandez, for whom negotiations had already begun. Both men were at the top of Chelsea’s list for their respective midfield roles, Fernandez providing the creative spark and Caicedo the disruptive energy.
Given the huge costs involved, only one could arrive in January. The other would be targeted in the summer. The consensus in the Chelsea boardroom was that they would face more competition for Fernandez if they waited until the end of the season than Caicedo, with Argentina’s World Cup winner bought for £106million ($134.9m) on January 31.
Their gamble paid off because Arsenal’s pursuit of Caicedo at the start of the year ended in failure and they then switched all their focus to buying Declan Rice, who ended up joining Mikel Arteta’s side for £100million plus £5million in add-ons ($127.3m plus $6.4m) on July 15. Chelsea liked Rice, too, but did not want to be drawn into a bidding war with Arsenal, especially after discovering his preference was to go to Emirates Stadium.
Rice’s sale was a key part of what followed because his price set a valuation.
It eclipsed what Real Madrid had committed to paying — more than €100million (£86m; $107m) — for Jude Bellingham a month earlier. Chelsea, along with many clubs, had an interest in Bellingham, too, but it did not progress far. The hierarchy believed he would be choosing between Manchester City and Real Madrid.
By July, Liverpool had already dismissed the notion of making an attempt for Caicedo because they were aware Chelsea had been working on a deal since January and felt it was too far advanced for anyone to rival them.
During an interview with TC Deportes on July 11, Caicedo effectively confirmed where he wanted to go.
When asked if he wanted to join Chelsea, he replied: “It’s a big team, that’s true. A very historic team that I can’t say no (to joining) because it’s a very big, historic, beautiful team. The city as well is beautiful. It’s got everything beautiful.”
Chelsea and Liverpool had offers for their respective targets rejected during July.
Chelsea made four bids for Caicedo, the last of which was worth £80million (£75m plus £5m in add-ons) and turned down instantly by email.
Brighton were frustrated by the sums Chelsea were offering. After rejecting Arsenal’s £80million offer in January, Caicedo signed a new deal in March and the club went on to qualify for the Europa League for the first time in their history. They also used Arsenal’s valuation of Rice as another benchmark. So when Chelsea started out at £60million, then £65million, then £70million, Brighton gave the proposals short shrift. They wanted at least £100million.
Conversely, Chelsea were under the impression that, on signing his contract extension, Caicedo had a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with Brighton that he could leave in the summer instead. This is why they remained confident about signing him while Brighton stalled for as long as possible, waiting for other clubs to enter the fray and spark an auction.
Chelsea were aware of the criticism over not offering Brighton £100million earlier. But they were not given the impression by Brighton that they would sell at that price, either. They felt Brighton were always going to prolong the negotiation and simply keep asking for more. Indeed, come August, Chelsea suspected their valuation had increased again to £120million.
The fact both teams were in the United States for a pre-season tour and played each other on July 23 in Philadelphia was regarded, at least by those on the outside looking in, as an ideal opportunity for talks to take place and agreement reached. Some conversations took place that day, but nothing came of them.
Even so, Chelsea remained extremely confident at the end of the tour that a compromise over a fee would eventually be struck. One source close to the owners, who spoke anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships, said at the time: “We know what will happen; we just play the usual dance with Brighton and then we get the player.”
There were plenty of precedents along those lines. In 2022, after a period of negotiation, Chelsea signed Marc Cucurella from Brighton for an initial £56million. They also paid £21.5million in compensation for head coach Graham Potter (sacked in April) and his backroom staff. Chelsea had at least one offer for Robert Sanchez rejected by Brighton before a fee in the region of £25million ($31.7m) was agreed between the two clubs earlier this month.
Key to Chelsea’s chances of securing Caicedo, though, was Brighton’s former head of recruitment turned Chelsea co-sporting director Paul Winstanley.
He had played a major role in Brighton signing the player from Independiente del Valle in 2021. The close bond forged back then was going to help Chelsea convince the player to join them. Reports later on that the owners had to step in to salvage negotiations with Winstanley being stood down were dismissed.
Yet there was another complication.
Brighton were trying to include Chelsea’s highly rated defender Levi Colwill, who spent last season on loan at the Amex Stadium, as part of any deal for Caicedo. Or, indeed, to buy the centre-half permanently. At least one offer of £30million was turned down, with Chelsea insisting the centre-back was not for sale. It took a while for Brighton to take no for an answer and there was a lot of uncertainty over Colwill’s future until he agreed a new six-year contract to stay at Stamford Bridge in August.
Lavia’s situation was not quite as fraught… yet.
After being relegated to the Championship, Southampton were in a slightly weaker bargaining position. However, they still set out to secure £50million ($63.7m) for the 19-year-old’s services. This was partly due to Manchester City, from whom Southampton signed Lavia for £10.5million in 2022, possessing a sell-on clause worth 20 per cent of any profit made on his next transfer.
Having considered the merits of more experienced options, Liverpool decided to push ahead with trying to secure Lavia to fill their No 6 void. They felt the price tag was inflated — Liverpool were not the only interested club to come to that conclusion — given the teenager had played just 36 senior games in his career. The hope was Southampton would cave at some point and accept a lower sum.
Liverpool’s first bid of around £37million was rejected on July 25. A week later they went back with £41million, and then followed that up with a package rising to £46million — again without success.
With Southampton refusing to budge, Liverpool took some time to consider their next move and made various approaches to assess what other options were available and at what price.
Liverpool enjoy a good rapport with Brighton. Not only had discussions for Mac Allister gone smoothly, but versatile veteran James Milner had left on a free transfer for the south coast club in June. With Brighton growing impatient with Chelsea, it was made clear to Liverpool that there was a deal to be done on Caicedo. The Ecuador international was regarded by Liverpool as a more complete player than Lavia. He was more experienced and ready to go straight into the team. Plus the possibility of reuniting him with Mac Allister was very appealing.
The unexpected £52million earned from the sales of Henderson and Fabinho to Saudi Arabia gave Liverpool the funds to attempt a club-record signing of Caicedo. Now the fun and games would truly begin.
By the time Liverpool’s interest was formalised with a bid, Caicedo had cleared his locker at Brighton and already spent days in a London hotel room anxiously waiting for news of whether a move was going to materialise.
Though he had not officially handed in a transfer request, his actions were the clearest signal sent to Brighton yet that he wanted to leave. But the fact he was in London and had made it clear Chelsea was in his thinking did not put Liverpool off. They felt there was enough encouragement to go ahead.
By this stage, intrigue had increased amid suggestions a mystery club had also declared an interest in signing him. The identity of the third club was never confirmed, but Bayern Munich did like Caicedo even if it was not realistic for them to sign him and Harry Kane in the same window. Prising the striker from Tottenham was always their main focus.
Liverpool had one bid rejected earlier in the week beginning August 7 before they pushed ahead with the club-record £111million attempt.
Matters effectively came to a head after Brighton told Chelsea and Liverpool they had 24 hours to make their best offer. It was not the same period, so it was not a race conducted to a specific time of the day. But once the two periods had ended, Brighton chose the bid closest to where they wanted it to be — Chelsea’s offer at that stage was £80million plus add-ons to take it up to around £100million, so Liverpool’s held sway.
The news broke in the early hours of August 11 that Liverpool had agreed terms with Brighton and a medical was scheduled for later the same day. No U-turn was expected.
Brighton felt Liverpool had simply outmanoeuvred Chelsea. One source, speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships, suggested Chelsea had been caught out for being too complacent — for thinking they had the player all along and did not expect any competition, even from Liverpool at the 11th hour.
Conversely, one Chelsea source revealed that the initial reaction within the club to Liverpool’s offer was that it was “insane”. Another indicated “surprise”. But at no stage was there any panic. They remained confident. While television and radio stations spoke about the development at length on Friday morning, when Klopp confirmed a fee had been agreed in his pre-match press conference, Chelsea simply reassessed what they had to do next.
Caicedo’s decision to tell Liverpool that morning that he wanted Chelsea over them was pivotal. He never even wanted to discuss personal terms with Liverpool. Brighton were aware of his stance, too. They intended to stick to their valuation of the player but they had no choice but to wait for Chelsea’s next move.
Talks duly resumed and a deal was agreed in principle on the Friday, with the broad framework of a £115million transfer discussed. But there was no desire to rush things. Chelsea’s opening Premier League game was against Liverpool on the following Sunday and there was a reluctance to antagonise Liverpool by announcing a deal before then. There were rumours Caicedo could be unveiled during the game but that was never a possibility. The plan was to finalise things after the fixture. Indeed, that weekend was spent finalising the details and paperwork associated with a transaction of this magnitude.
Brighton could not say no to the terms Chelsea eventually delivered: £100million, plus another £15million in very achievable add-ons and a sizeable sell-on percentage.
Senior sources at Chelsea are under the impression the salary was not a decisive factor behind Caicedo’s choice and that he would have earned around the same, if not more, at Liverpool even if the Merseyside club would not have offered an eight-year contract.
It was not just about financial gain for Caicedo. Living in London, where there is an established Ecuadorian community, appealed to the player. In his unveiling video, a picture also emerged of Caicedo with his mother wearing a Chelsea shirt back in Ecuador a few years ago — further indication this was always a decision based on what was in his heart and head.
A day after Caicedo was officially announced as a Chelsea player, Brighton chief executive Paul Barber expressed his surprise at how things turned out on radio station talkSPORT. He said: “Liverpool is a terrific football club and for any player to have the chance to play at Liverpool, at Anfield, you would imagine they would be running up the M6 and M62 (two of the motorways in England), but it wasn’t to be.
“Moises and his advisors decided for whatever reason that London was their preferred destination for a move, and ultimately Chelsea. In that situation, we’re in a slightly difficult position because we’ve negotiated a deal. We spent many days, working with Liverpool to get a deal agreed and they couldn’t have done any more. They were superb, professional throughout.
“We started working with Chelsea as soon as we realised that Liverpool were not able to proceed. At that point, we’ve got to protect our own interests, and our interests are our player and making sure that we realise the value for the player we were expecting.
“We’ve done that and Moises now goes on to the next stage of his career.”
Brighton certainly celebrated securing such a good fee and Chelsea were happy to sign a player they had coveted all along. But the length of time it took to reach a successful conclusion left relations between the two clubs a little cooler.
Yet the manner in which the transfer had been resolved left Liverpool in a far more precarious position.
By switching all their attention to Caicedo and demonstrating they had significant money to spend after weeks of haggling with Southampton, they had inadvertently sent a bad signal out to Lavia. Up to then, Anfield had appeared to be his most likely destination. Now that was very much in doubt.
Chelsea had always boasted one ace up their sleeves in the presence of Joe Shields, who started work as co-director of recruitment and talent at Stamford Bridge in January. Shields had a good bond with Lavia and his family from his time working at Manchester City and Southampton.
However, Chelsea’s move to buy Tyler Adams from Leeds had appeared to indicate they had conceded Liverpool were favourites for Lavia. Their decision to pull out of that move, with concerns about when the USMNT midfielder would return from an injury suffered in March, came before Liverpool’s bid for Caicedo was lodged.
It was Liverpool’s move for Caicedo that gave Chelsea the advantage in the Lavia pursuit. As their confidence grew over Caicedo on the Friday, so did the Londoners’ belief that they could land Lavia as well.
Southampton were delighted to have two big clubs trying to sign the teenager. Just like Brighton, they had wanted to wait for other big deals to be concluded, including that of Caicedo, in the hope it would improve their chances of securing more money for Lavia. It meant they could raise the kind of fee they had been looking for from day one. In a repeat of the Caicedo affair, Liverpool soon discovered Lavia preferred a move to Chelsea and, for a second time, had to concede defeat.
Ironically, Caicedo played a role in persuading the Belgian to join. With Chelsea already in the process of discussing terms with Southampton, Caicedo messaged Lavia making it clear how much he wanted them to play together.
Chelsea also used Caicedo’s purchase as part of their pitch. They argued the signing provided more evidence of the ambitious project upon which they had embarked. They pointed to the youth of their midfield with Fernandez (22), Caicedo (21) and Ugochukwu (19). Lavia, also 19, would not be made to feel like the youngster in the group, but would be seen on an equal footing with the chance to become a leader.
Then there was also a reassuring conversation with his compatriot Eden Hazard, who starred for Chelsea between 2012 and 2019. Just hearing what being at Chelsea and living near London was like from such an inspirational figure was reassuring even if Lavia’s heart was already set on a move to Stamford Bridge. This took place before a chat between the two was put on the Chelsea app after his official unveiling.
On the same day Caicedo’s arrival was announced, The Athletic revealed Lavia was also going to Chelsea. The fee was £53million plus another £5million in add-ons. Discussions between the two clubs went smoothly and were concluded in a day. Unlike with Caicedo, the talks took place after Chelsea had played Liverpool so there was no awkward timing to endure.
Chelsea feel like they have made a major statement by getting the pair. Even Caicedo’s awkward debut as a substitute in the 3-1 defeat to West Ham on Sunday, when he gave away a late penalty, has not tempered the excitement about what the team will now look like in midfield for years to come.
Liverpool’s urgent search for an alternative holding midfielder saw them move swiftly to sign 30-year-old Japan international Wataru Endo from Stuttgart for £16.2million ($20.6m). Reflecting on a “tricky week”, Klopp said: “When you have a problem, you can either stick to the problem or find a solution.
“I am more than happy to have this solution.”
The watching world waits to discover which club — Chelsea, Liverpool, or even Brighton or Southampton — reaps the true benefits of a frenetic summer window.
https://theathletic.com/4771295/2023/08/23/chelsea-liverpool-caicedo-lavia/
