Declan Rice blamed as Chelsea have €82m bid REJECTED

Carlo Garganese

• 18 Jul 2023 06:35 CDT
• 3 min read

Chelsea have had an €82 million offer for Moises Caicedo rejected by Brighton, according to David Ornstein.

The Athletic journalist reported on Tuesday that the official offer from Chelsea was sent in writing on Monday but was turned down.

This is the second bid Chelsea have had rejected by Brighton after an offer of €70m was pushed away in June.

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It is widely acknowledged that the reason Chelsea are having such problems in agreeing a fee for Caicedo is because Declan Rice’s transfer to Arsenal has inflated the market.

Rice moved to Arsenal last week from West Ham for an astronomical fee of €122m.

Brighton feel that Caicedo, who has agreed personal terms with Chelsea, is every bit as good as Rice and are thus demanding a similar fee in order to sell.

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The Athletic reports that Brighton are demanding €116m (£100m) for Caicedo.

Caicedo himself is desperate to join Chelsea and has reportedly grown frustrated at the delays in completing this transfer.

Ornstein reports that Chelsea’s refusal to sell Brighton Levi Colwill has further complicated the Caicedo negotiations.

Colwill enjoyed a successful loan at Brighton last season and they want to sign him permanently. They had a €35m bid rejected this summer by Chelsea, who want to keep Colwill.

Chelsea want Caicedo to partner Enzo Fernandez at the centre of the pitch and are undergoing a midfield revolution having lost N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek in recent weeks.

Caicedo close to Chelsea in January

Caicedo was the subject of a tug of war between Chelsea and Arsenal in the closing days of the January transfer window.

Both London sides put bids in for the Ecuador midfielder but Brighton rejected all offers.

Caicedo tried to force through a transfer by publicly requesting that he was allowed to leave.

This led to Brighton dropping Caicedo from the squad for a while.

In the end, Caicedo remained put until the end of the season as Brighton qualified for Europe for the first time in their history.

But Caicedo will almost certainly leave this summer for a big club, if Brighton get the fee they are asking for.