Moises Caicedo transfer: Midfielder completes medical after Chelsea agree British record fee with Brighton
Moises Caicedo set to sign eight-year deal with Chelsea; midfielder completed medical on Monday; the Blues will pay £100m for Caicedo, plus £15m in performance-related add-ons; Caicedo turned down a £111m move to Liverpool
Monday 14 August 2023 18:31, UK
Moises Caicedo has completed his medical at Chelsea as he nears a British record £115m switch from Brighton.
Caicedo arrived at the Chelsea training ground for his medical on Monday morning and completed that part of the process at lunchtime.
The Blues are understood to be paying an initial £100m, plus £15m in performance-related add-ons.
The midfielder will sign an eight-year contract, with the option of a further year.
Brighton will have a sell-on clause that has been described as "significant" as part of the £115m deal to sell Caicedo.
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Half of the add-ons have been described as "quite easily achievable", while the other half are considered "much harder" to achieve.
Liverpool agreed a £111m deal to sign Caicedo last week but the move fell through when the 21-year-old informed the club he intended to join Chelsea.
Caicedo had been expected to travel to Liverpool for a medical on Friday after Jurgen Klopp's side had a bid accepted by Brighton following a midnight deadline for bids on Thursday.
But the Ecuador international had a change of heart and told Liverpool - who drew 1-1 at Chelsea in their opening Premier League game of the season on Sunday - he did not want to join.
"I'm desperate for him to come to Liverpool as the need for him there is probably greater," said Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher. "It's going to be a big blow."
Caicedo instead remained in London and made it clear he only wanted to leave Brighton for Chelsea, who have been pursuing him all summer.
The £115m fee eclipses the £106.8m Chelsea paid for Enzo Fernandez when breaking the British-record transfer fee in January. Arsenal spent £105m on Declan Rice earlier in the summer.
Chelsea want to sign two midfielders this summer and are still pushing to sign Southampton's Romeo Lavia despite Liverpool agreeing a £60m deal for the Belgian.
Liverpool agree £60m Lavia deal but Chelsea still in pursuit
Liverpool have agreed a deal with Southampton for Romeo Lavia, Sky Sports News understands.
However, Chelsea are still pushing to sign Lavia and had been close to an agreement with Saints late last week.
Sources have told Sky Sports News that the total package agreed between Liverpool and Southampton on Sunday night is worth £60m.
Southampton had been holding firm on their £50m valuation of 19-year-old Lavia. Chelsea had made an offer of £48m last week, while Liverpool had seen three previous offers turned down this summer.
Chelsea's pursuit of Lavia is independent of the Moises Caicedo deal.
How much have Chelsea spent?
Chelsea have now splashed a league-topping £285.9m this summer and Caicedo becomes the club's 10th signing of the window, having also signed Christopher Nkunku (£52m), Axel Disasi (£38.8m), Nicolas Jackson (£32m), Robert Sanchez (£25m), Lesley Ugochukwu (£23.1m), Angelo Gabriel, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Diego Moreira and Alex Matos (all undisclosed).
Last season, the Blues splashed a record-breaking £601.7m across both transfer windows on new signings and only recouped £61m from player sales - but the club has balanced the books so far this season.
Mauricio Pochettino's side have cashed in £232.3m in this window, selling Kai Havertz (£65m), Mason Mount (£60m), Mateo Kovacic (£30m), Christian Pulisic (£18.8m), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (£18.5m), Kalidou Koulibaly (£17m), Edouard Mendy (£16m) and Ethan Ampadu (£7m).
As it stands, all those deals place Chelsea ninth in the table for net spend.
Klopp's dig at Chelsea over transfers: What manager wants they get
Jurgen Klopp had a dig at Chelsea after their 1-1 draw with Liverpool, suggesting whatever the current manager at Stamford Bridge wants, he gets, regarding transfers.
Following the stalemate between the teams on Super Sunday, Klopp was asked about his opposite number Mauricio Pochettino wanting more players in this window, which drew a reply of: "That's what Chelsea managers want and they usually get it."
Redknapp 'shocked' Caicedo turned Liverpool down
Former Liverpool midfielder and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp on the Essential Football Podcast:
"I'm obviously hugely biased in this one - but this is astonishing for me!
"Normally Liverpool would always, always win this one hands down. I just thought it was inevitable.
"I thought he would look great in that red kit. I thought he would be the perfect signing for Liverpool.
"I get the attraction of Chelsea. It's a huge club. They've won so many things over the years.
"But I think in terms of the history of the clubs, I'm amazed, especially with Caicedo joining up with Alexis Mac Allister, I thought it would be a perfect move."
Analysis: How Caicedo turned into £115m in-demand star
In the wake of his country's World Cup exit last year, when other players were jetting off to high-end holiday resorts, Caicedo was back in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, playing in a local tournament on the same dusty pitch he used as a boy.
In footage which went viral in the country, Caicedo, a rising star in the Premier League who had just become Ecuador's youngest scorer at a World Cup, can be seen finding the net again, only this time as a ringer for Caicedos FC, a team made up of extended family members.
His goal, slotted in at the near post in ramshackle surroundings, helped Caicedos FC win the tournament and was celebrated with a leap, a fist pump and a gesture of recognition to the few hundred spectators sitting or leaning on fences around the pitch.
"This is Moises," Miguel Angel Ramirez, Caicedo's former coach at his boyhood club Independiente del Valle, tells Sky Sports with a smile. "Going back to his village, to his family, his friends, playing football, helping everyone there. He doesn't forget his people..."
