The Ecuadorian footballer Caicedo recently transferred to Chelsea from Brighton and Hove Albion FC for a £100 million fee which could rise to a British club record of £115 million. Despite Liverpool agreeing a £111M deal for Caicedo last week, his preference was firmly with Chelsea, which he described as “a dream come true”.
Caicedo, the youngest of 10 siblings, comes from a poor neighbourhood in Santo Domingo, a town 100 miles west of Ecuador’s capital city, Quito. His progression through the ranks at Independiente del Valle attracted the attention of several European teams including Newcastle United, Chelsea and Manchester United among others. But Brighton’s well established relationship with the team gave them a great advantage in signing the talented youngster.
At 18, he became a senior international for Ecuador before his move to Brighton. Caicedo joined Brighton in January 2021 from Independiente del Valle in his homeland for £4 million. This was a great triumph for Brighton and shows the success of the club’s player recruitment model and scouting. This was a further incredible example of Brighton’s policy of developing players from across the world and training them to bigger opportunities to earn a huge profit.
He has now become the third most expensive transfer of all time, beaten by Paris Saint-Germain purchasing Neymar from Barcelona for £192 million in summer 2017 and Kilian Mbappé from Monaco the next year for £125 million plus £30 million add ons.
Caicedo still had four years left of his contract at Brighton when he expressed his desire to leave the club earlier this year. This sparked a flurry of bids from Chelsea and Liverpool who were both keen to sign the up and coming star.
He made his debut for Chelsea last week in their match against West Ham where the team suffered an unexpected 3-1 defeat. Chelsea were searching for their first win of the season, after drawing 1-1 with Liverpool, but despite the club’s heavy purchasing recently, they failed to secure the three points. Caicedo has been heavily criticised by football fans as he conceded the vital penalty for the Hammer’s third goal, scored by Lucas Paqueta. However, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino said that the Ecuadorian midfielder showed ‘very positive things’ on his disappointing debut. This shines a positive light on Caicedo’s future and that of the club itself despite his unprecedented poor performance. Pochettino is confident that Chelsea’s performance will improve quickly despite this difficult start to the season.
Chelsea are set to play newly promoted Luton Town at home on Friday, a match in which many will have high expectations for Caicedo’s performance following his nightmare debut match.