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.