Moises Caicedo’s transfer saga dominated the whole summer, and in fact it still grabs headlines now, given the record breaking sums involved.
The midfielder’s agent isn’t afraid of talking to the media about the deal, which has made him a very rich man. Let’s hope he doesn’t become the new Jorghino’s agent, in terms of media availability…
Anyway, here’s what Manuel Sierra had to say about the deal in in quotes picked up by the Evening Standard:
“What happened is that in January [Chelsea] couldn’t pay.”
“They couldn’t go crazy because they had to go with one or the other, they couldn’t sign both [Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo] and I didn’t know what Brighton were going to ask for. Brighton were not going to sell even for £1billion.”
“The issue of not going to Liverpool instead of Chelsea was also questioned a lot. The offers were similar in every way, the issue was a question of values, principles and of giving the floor to someone. When Liverpool’s offer arrived, Brighton were asked for time so that Chelsea could match it, they did, they surpassed it and he ended up at Chelsea because he had given his word to Chelsea for quite some time.
“Liverpool were always interested. We had meetings between January and May but since May we didn’t hear from them. Of course we were surprised that suddenly they appeared with [an offer] that they had said they couldn’t do.”
“The first thing we were told was, ‘Tomorrow you have to go to Liverpool to have a medical’. Of course, what is our reaction going to be if we have not negotiated, we have not spoken, we have not seen anything since May?
“Our phone conversations were clear at all times, we were clear, as long as Chelsea offered the same conditions that Liverpool could. As I say they surpassed it, so there was no complaint.
“It is very complicated, imagine that Jurgen Klopp is writing to you, that Liverpool are calling you, we are talking about something very big, one of the best teams in the world just like Chelsea – and with a more established and more stabilised project than what Chelsea have today.
“When Liverpool came and approached in that way, obviously Moises got dizzy, I got dizzy myself, but Chelsea were by our side at all times asking us to go, they wanted an hour to tell Brighton that they could match the offer. They gave them an hour and it ended after two days of negotiation.”
It seems despite often looking pretty reactionary and scattergun, the transfer team at Chelsea had the Enzo-Caicedo duo in mind almost right away. It look almost a quarter of a billion to land them both, but they were probably correct to target Enzo first, knowing that by the summer there would be even fiercer competition for him than there was for Caicedo in the end.
If they’re still running things in ten years, it will look like a great plan – but that’s a long way off still.
