Moises Caicedo to Chelsea stalling - Fabrizio Romano explains

Stuart Telford

• 6 Jul 2023 12:24 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea reportedly agreed terms with Moises Caicedo months ago, but there has been no movement on his transfer from Brighton. Now, Fabrizio Romano has explained why.

Caicedo has emerged as one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League over the last year, and Arsenal saw a £60 million bid for the Ecuadorean turned down by Brighton last summer.

The Gunners have since moved on, signing England midfielder Declan Rice from West Ham for £105m, giving Chelsea a clean run at Caicedo - despite his own admission in April that he had "always dreamed of playing for Real Madrid."

READ: Mount's Chelsea departure prompts HUGE new Caicedo bid

Romano reported at the start of June that Caicedo had agreed personal terms with Chelsea, meanwhile, but since then the Blues have announced the signings of Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig and Nicolas Jackson from Villarreal - yet still no Caicedo.

Now Romano has explained why.

'Absolutely concrete' between Chelsea and Brighton

"I'm told that the situation is absolutely concrete and 'on' between Chelsea and Brighton," the Italian transfer specialist told his YouTube channel. "Chelsea and Brighton decided to go for a different kind of negotiation, not just the normal mechanism of an official bid and an official answer - in this case they are speaking club to club.

"The negotiation is ongoing… Chelsea are working on this Caicedo deal behind the scenes. It's not the only one. Chelsea are working on many things, Brazilian players, offensive players, but for sure, Moises Caicedo's the priority."

READ: Chelsea agree personal terms with Kante replacement

Caicedo's ETV per FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm is €30.2m, but their €121m spend on Benfica's Argentina World Cup winner in Enzo Fernandez in January has helped inflate the market for defensive midfielders.

Brighton paid Independiente del Valle just €5m for Caicedo's services after Manchester United had pulled out of a deal due to 'complications with agents', so they stand to make a significant profit on the 21-year-old.