Moises Caicedo is slowly starting to justify his eye-watering £115m price tag at Chelsea and can finally shut his doubters up against former suitors Liverpool

There are very few players who should command a transfer fee north of £100 million ($130m), and Moises Caicedo certainly wasn’t one of them when Chelsea splurged that eye-watering sum (plus £15m more in potential add-ons) to snatch him from under Liverpool’s noses in 2023. A dramatic deal that reignited the rivalry between the two clubs, it initially looked like the Blues would be on the wrong side of history, but Caicedo has finally found his feet at Stamford Bridge.

Having toiled in a transitional side following his blockbuster move, the 22-year-old has slowly but surely returned to the kind of level that convinced the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital ownership to smash the British record for a cumulative fee. Under the tutelage of new head coach Enzo Maresca, he has looked every bit the midfield destroyer they thought they were getting.

“He [Maresca] has given me responsibility. It’s good when the manager does that because he knows you can do it well,” Caicedo said recently. “He always tells me to help the team attacking and defending, and that’s what I’m doing on the pitch. I am working on both sides helping to get forwards and backwards, and I’m so happy when I help the team to win games.”

Caicedo returns to Merseyside on Sunday in the form of his Chelsea career so far, and he will be intent on making a statement against his would-be employers in the Anfield cauldron.

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  Initial struggles

  Caicedo’s lacklustre start to life at Chelsea is now infamous, although it was caveated by the fact he had barely played in pre-season in 2023 as he was frozen out at Brighton by then-boss Roberto De Zerbi amid some intense transfer interest from the west Londoners and Liverpool.

  Despite his lack of minutes and match sharpness, Mauricio Pochettino threw the new man straight in at the deep end and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he floundered; the midfielder conceded a penalty in his debut cameo against West Ham and was caught in possession in the lead-up to Nottingham Forest’s winner at Stamford Bridge two games later, as Chelsea made a dreadful start to 2023-24.

  Inevitably, Caicedo’s exorbitant price tag cranked up scrutiny around his performances tenfold, and although he eventually settled and gradually improved along with the Blues’ overall displays as the season wore on, his individual campaign was already tarnished.

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    ‘It was tough for me’

    Speaking earlier in October, Caicedo admitted he had found the adaptation to heightened expectation levels at Stamford Bridge a difficult one: “At the beginning of last season it was a little bit tough for me. It’s a very big club and you have to get used to it. I learned a lot.

    “When someone new comes in with new ways, you need to adapt: to a new club and playing with the impression that you need to win every game.”

    Caicedo had previously referenced the weight of his astronomical £115m price tag, admitting he lost belief in himself: “Yes, confidence,” he said. “I have the quality and I know the player I am. But sometimes if you are not strong in your mind, it is difficult.”
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    Unpopular on Merseyside

    One club in particular revelled in Caicedo’s early woes: Chelsea’s opponents on Sunday, Liverpool.

    The Ecuadorian’s bombshell rejection of the Reds’ advances in 2023 in favour of a move to Stamford Bridge – mere days before Romeo Lavia followed suit in a remarkable double snub – provoked widespread bitterness towards both the player and the Anfield hierarchy from the fanbase, as they missed out on a man who was considered to be an essential part of their midfield rebuild following the exits of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and James Milner.

    Unsurprisingly, those associated with Liverpool were first in line to point and laugh as soon as things went awry for both Caicedo and Lavia, with the latter effectively missing the whole season through injury, with that misfortune seemingly viewed as some form of karmic retribution.

    The double snub had been swiftly forgotten and the mood on Merseyside buoyed by new signings Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo all hitting the ground running. The latter was signed as a defensive-midfield alternative and effectively cost seven times less than Caicedo (£16m/$21m).

    Even Jurgen Klopp weighed in, with the now-former Reds boss quipping in December last year: “We had a few strange things happen in the transfer market but here, between us, I can say, ‘my god, were we lucky, eh?’. We didn’t know that in that moment and it didn’t feel like it in that moment, but yeah, I’m really happy that it worked out.” Still, Caicedo is “100%” convinced he made the right decision.

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    Vast improvement

    Caicedo and Chelsea will be thrilled, then, that as they prepare to re-enter the Anfield cauldron, their record signing is in the kind of form that convinced them to trump Liverpool and shell out on him 14 months ago.

    The 22-year-old had looked increasingly assured under Pochettino in the second half of last season, having hired a specialist to help him, and he has taken significant strides forward since Maresca was appointed in the summer – emerging as one of the Blues’ key players at the base of midfield.

    He seems to have rediscovered that destructiveness that made him such an outstanding prospect at Brighton, leading the Chelsea squad in tackles won (16), blocks (11) and interceptions (10), averaging 3.95 tackles and 1.46 interceptions per 90. He has already made 39 ball recoveries in seven Premier League games played.

    Caicedo is in the 94th and 92nd percentiles for duels won and defensive actions respectively across the Premier League so far this season, and the 90th and 70th for key and progressive passes as he demonstrates that he is not all about defending. His best performance to date came in the demolition of West Ham, as he capped a fine overall display with an exquisite, slide-rule assist for Nicolas Jackson.

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    Misconceptions

    In short, Caicedo is answering his critics by getting back to what he does best as a pure midfield disrupter. He has been criticised for being easily dispossessed and his short passing is not the best, with his accuracy in the league relatively low at 88%, but he wasn’t signed to be the next Sergio Busquets.

    That he boasts exceptional long-range passing and can chip in with assists like the one for Jackson is a bonus, but Caicedo is not a ball-playing midfielder first and foremost, with the misconception that he should be adept that that aspect of the game – another consequence of his price tag – arguably damaging his reputation last season.
    Speaking to the BBC, his former Brighton manager, Graham Potter – who brought him to English shores from Independiente del Valle in his native Ecuador – said: “When people talk about team players, well, that’s Moises – he just wants to do the best he can for his team. Of course he is a better player when the team is functioning well, but he will make everyone else better too.

    “He is not the guy who is going to dribble past 10 players, or try something flash. He is physical, he wins the ball for you and he keeps things simple when he has got it, although he has got quality too – look at the through ball he played for Nicolas Jackson to score against West Ham a couple of weeks ago.”

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    ‘He has had to suffer’

    Indeed, Potter believes Chelsea and their rivals are just beginning to see the best of the Ecuadorian. “The way it began for him with us at Brighton was similar to what happened when he first joined Chelsea, in that it felt like he has had to suffer and dig in before coming out the other side and showing everyone his true quality,” he said.

    “He has established himself now at Chelsea, which is credit to him because that status has not come easy – for lots of reasons. Things are different now. The Chelsea team has settled down a lot since he first joined, which has probably helped him a lot, but he has grown with them.”

    The ex-Brighton and Chelsea boss continued: “There is sometimes an expectation that you sign players and they are going to hit the ground running, and be some kind of instant solution to whatever problem you have got. What people often misunderstand is that you have been watching a player who is playing a certain way, and functioning well in a well-functioning team. When you put him in a different situation, and in a team that is not functioning in the same way, you don’t get the same player – temporarily, anyway.

    “They just need some help and support to get back to that point. You have to understand the context of the club he went to, because it is fair to say Chelsea were in a period of transition for a couple of years, including the time I was there as manager.”

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    Anfield test

    Having rediscovered himself, Caicedo returns to Anfield on Sunday to face the sternest test of his strong season so far – coming up against the well-oiled midfield unit that he declined to become a part of.

    His ex-Brighton team-mate Mac Allister and in-form Ryan Gravenberch – who has adjusted seamlessly to the defensive midfield role under Arne Slot – will be formidable foes, but Caicedo has demonstrated that he has the quality to shut down the former and outshine the latter in what is certain to be a hostile atmosphere.

    Caicedo wants to become a “legend” at Stamford Bridge, and a dominant performance against one of Chelsea’s fiercest rivals and the team he snubbed to join them will go some way to setting him on that path.

    “I have more confidence and I’m playing good football,” he said recently. “My team-mates also have helped me a lot on and off the pitch. I’m really enjoying it. As I said when I arrived here, I would like to become a legend here and that’s what I’m working hard to do every day. That’s the target.”