I totally get why many are saying that we should now walk away from the Moises Caicedo deal, and these views are fuelled by anger and frustration off the back of how long this saga has been going on. Trust me, I feel that and I am with you.
However, for me personally, I would not be walking away from this, at least not yet, and below I’ll explain my reasoning.
I’m prepared to wait it out a little longer. I’ve always given the Liverpool game as my ballpoint before I then say OK, let’s walk away. And I think I am prepared to wait it out just a little bit more than that. It won’t be the end of the world if we don’t have Caicedo in by then. We have Andrey Santos looking more than accomplished and ready, and other options. Of course, ideally we want Moises Caicedo in our midfield for Liverpool, and I still have some hope of that happening.
Chelsea have worked so hard and for so long on this deal now in constant negotiations, it would be absolutely gutting and a real shame to come out of them empty handed, wouldn’t it? So let’s give it a bit longer.
Also, hearing all these PR reports coming out from Brighton just tells me one thing, it tells me that they will sell Caicedo, but they are just trying their luck and trying to milk it for everything they can. But, they WILL sell him. They literally made promises to him.
Also, let’s give Caicedo and his team a chance to physically push to leave with a transfer request. Will they do that? I’m not sure, but I feel the longer it goes on then they may well do so. Let’s give them a chance to do that because that could turn the tide here.
My other main reason is because honestly, who else do we get? What other number 6 option is out there and available who is of the same calibre of Caicedo? The only one I’d take is probably Aurelien Tchouameni but I see no way that he leaves Real Madrid at this point and even if he does, I don’t think he’d want to come to Chelsea. But even still, I honestly don’t think Madrid will sell him.
Caicedo is worth waiting for and honestly, worth paying for. I’m not talking above £100m. If it went to that then maybe we do walk. But £100m all in with a lower base fee around £80m and favourable terms for us, I think is a good deal. Caicedo has everything we need and would be a long-term partner for Enzo Fernandez. He’s a target worth fighting for, and that is what we are doing.
Speaking of Enzo, imagine if we walked away from him when Benfica started playing silly buggers? Imagine if we didn’t stick that one out for the whole transfer window and gave up on him? Imagine if we refused to drop the £100m on him and walked away? Enzo is going to be the signing of the century for us and will be a legacy player, Caicedo would also be that. If you want an elite player you have to pay for them.
Caicedo also has something that Enzo didn’t, a year and a bit of Premier League experience, which is vital. To be the best we have to sign the best.
I understand what people say about signing ‘unknown’ gems like Nicolas Jackson instead. I see that. But for me the 6 position is THE MOST important position we need to get absolutely bang on and one we cannot take any risks with. We don’t just need to get it right because it’s the most important position on the pitch, we also need to get it right so that we can get even more out of Enzo.
We have to stick this out a little longer in my opinion and try and take some emotion out of it. And if we really do have to end up pulling out of the deal, then I seriously hope we have some top alternatives lined up.
I want to see a conclusion to this saga soon, but I don’t want to see us working on a deal for this long and then failing, let’s get it over the line. And if that takes another week or two, then so be it.
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