Liverpool have agreed a British-record transfer fee with Brighton for midfielder Moises Caicedo – but Chelsea remain hopeful of doing a deal of their own.
The fee is understood to be worth £111m. There will also be a sell-on clause included in the deal.
However, although Caicedo was expected to travel to Liverpool for a medical on Friday he remains in London.
Chelsea, who have been pursuing Caicedo all summer, haven’t given up hope of bringing the Ecuador international to Stamford Bridge, although they are yet to offer a new improved bid. It is understood Chelsea were prepared to go to £100m on Thursday for the player.
Brighton set a deadline for midnight on Thursday for bids to come in – and provided their valuation was met, they would go with the highest bidder.
Liverpool formally submitted their proposal late on Thursday night after Caicedo indicated his willingness to move to Anfield.
“The fee with the club is agreed,” confirmed Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp in his Friday press conference. “We will see what that means. We aren’t a club with endless resources and we didn’t expect a couple of things to happen this summer. Then it happened.”
As reported by Sky Sports News, Liverpool was locked in discussions with Brighton to ascertain all the financial parameters of doing a deal in case Chelsea couldn’t or wouldn’t reach an agreement.
Liverpool was informed just after midnight that they were indeed the highest bidders. Personal terms with Caicedo have been agreed and planning for all the formalities of a transfer is now in motion.
Brighton signed Caicedo for £4.5m from Independiente del Valle in 2021. Bayern Munich were also interested in signing him, indicating they would pay £90m.
Source:skysports.com
