Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia give Chelsea midfield minefield

Sam McGuire

• Updated: 18 Aug 2023 15:32 BST
• 5 min read

Chelsea have signed Moises Caicedo from Brighton and Romeo Lavia from Southampton, giving Mauricio Pochettino a selection headache, writes Sam McGuire.

Chelsea managed it then.

After months of courting Moises Caicedo, they managed to strike a deal with Brighton for the 21-year-old, parting with a British record fee to bring him to Stamford Bridge. A late bid from Liverpool seemed to speed up this process but the Blues always seemed confident in their pursuit of the one-time Arsenal transfer target.

READ: Caicedo SLAMMED for picking Chelsea over Liverpool by Brighton CEO

Mauricio Pochettino’s men have also pipped the Reds to the signing of Romeo Lavia. Liverpool had been favourites to sign the Southampton midfielder but were reluctant to pay the fee wanted by the Saints. Chelsea, who had a long-standing interest in the former Manchester City youngster, stepped in to secure another talent.

The Blues, however, now have a fairly stacked midfield department.

Caicedo and Lavia join Enzo Fernandez, Lesley Ugochukwu, Carney Chukwuemeka, Andrey Santos and Conor Gallagher as middle-third options for Pochettino. Striking a balance is going to be difficult for the ex-Tottenham Hotspur tactician.

READ: Chelsea squad numbers revealed: Lukaku EXCLUDED, Mudryk handed No.10

That is a fairly young midfield group. Gallagher at 23 is the oldest and, if reports are to be believed, he’s set to depart Stamford Bridge before deadline day, despite his impressive showing in the 1-1 draw with Liverpool. All are going to need regular minutes if they are to develop into the players Chelsea banked on them becoming.

How do you juggle the development of these players with the expectations of a top-four finish? It is going to be a big ask and, if it doesn’t go to plan, it could potentially harm their chances of a Champions League place.

Santos, as talented as he is, has just one season of senior football to his name. Lavia falls into this category too while Ugochukwu has the best part of two seasons with the Rennes first-team. Even Caicedo, all things considered, lacks top-flight experience. He made just 45 appearances for Brighton in the Premier League.

On the pitch, you feel it is going to be just as tricky for Pochettino.

Fernandez ran the show against Liverpool having been given more freedom by his compatriot. Instead of anchoring the midfield, he was allowed to play his natural game, the game that saw him move for £105million in January. To facilitate this, Pochettino tweaked Gallagher’s role and had him operating at the base of a midfield ahead of the three centre-backs. The 23-year-old’s high energy and work rate stopped a number of attacks - winning five of his eight ground duels, making three interceptions and recovering the ball on 10 occasions. The former Crystal Palace loanee sacrificed parts of his game for the benefit of the team, and it paid off. He did the dirty work and allowed Fernandez to pull the strings with the new Chelsea No8 finishing the game with a 90% pass success rate. He completed 91% of his attempted long passes and was successful with 100% of his dribbles.

The expectation is that Caicedo comes in and replaces Gallagher as the destroyer. Of course, he can do that but it would be limiting his game. Under Roberto De Zerbi, he was key to Brighton’s build-up and he would, at times, be high up the pitch looking to win the ball back with his partner in the double-pivot taking up a more reserved position.

Caicedo is better on the ball than a lot of people give him credit for. For example, last season he was attempting, on average, 66 passes per 90 and found a teammate 88% of the time. The Ecuador international was also averaging over six progressive passes per 90 in the Premier League, per FBref. He wasn’t a defensive midfielder who just looked to protect the defence and keep things simple. There’s much more to his game and that is why he was so highly sought after.

Perhaps the solution for Pochettino is to introduce Lavia into a midfield three and have the 19-year-old anchor it with Caicedo on the left and Fernandez on the right. Lavia hasn’t really played as a single pivot in the Premier League but he idolised Sergio Busquets and Fernandinho, so that has to be the end goal for the one-cap Belgium international.

If he’s in there doing the dirty work, the midfield pairing of Caicedo and Fernandez can play their natural games without having to worry about covering for one another in a double pivot. It could turn out to be one of the better-balanced trios in the Premier League, and they can all grow together and mature as a group. It is a lot of money, but it could well pay off.