Moises Caicedo has been linked with big money transfers to Arsenal and Chelsea. Photo: Getty Images/Mike Hewitt
Moises Caicedo doesn't give up on this. “I was very close to leaving,” he says. «I suffered a lot.»
It's well known that Caicedo wanted to join Arsenal in January. His open letter to Brighton owner Tony Bloom, in which he publicly urged to leave, dispelled all doubts about this.
But that's not all, and today, for the first time, Caicedo talks about the «hard» times that followed the scandal, what Roberto De Zerbi told him when the deal fell through, and why he was so carried away by Arsenal in the first place.
The very fact that Caicedo speaks to Telegraph Sport today as a Brighton player — and one who recently signed a contract until 2027 — is a remarkable show of strength from Bloom. It was Chelsea who first showed up in January with an offer of £55m, which Brighton turned down. This was followed by an introductory offer from Arsenal worth £60 million, which was also rejected.
It was at this point that Caicedo went public, stating that he hoped the fans «can understand why I want to take advantage of this great opportunity» and highlighting how Brighton would benefit from a hefty transfer fee.
Arsenal are back with a second offer of £70m. Result? Rejected again.
It's only been 12 weeks, but to Caicedo's credit, he's not hiding from the scandal. By no means. «I'm sure there will be many more opportunities for me,» he says, referring to the saga for the first time in a newspaper interview. “That's why I keep doing well. [But] it was hard. In the beginning, when I didn't go, a lot of people made fun of me on Instagram. People treated me badly. I didn't check my social media because it would hurt me to see it.»
It's not hard to see how Caicedo fell in love with Arsenal's game. “I saw a lot of Arsenal before I knew there was a possibility that I would sign for them,” he says. “I watched them and I liked them because they have very young, talented players and a few stars, but they always have this mindset that they want more.”
Brighton tends to have an open-minded approach to allowing staff to consider transfers to other clubs, hinting at their current place in the football ecosystem, although, as with Caicedo, this does not necessarily mean that the offer will be accepted.
Moises Caicedo played against Arsenal last season, a side he almost joined in January. Photo: AFP/Justin Tallis
As such, Caicedo is not the first person this season to decide that Brighton's ambitions no longer match his own. Mark Cucurella left for Chelsea in August. Graham Potter and his coaching staff followed in September. Leonardo Trossard successfully left for the Emirates in January.
But what separates Caicedo from Cucurella, Trossard and Potter is that he had to return to the dressing room at the Amex Stadium and face his teammates .
So how did they react? “They all supported me,” he adds. “When I returned, they greeted me again. It was great for me because I was at home again. They all supported me. So, I resumed training, full of hunger, to get back to the team and help them.”
And returned to his best when he was. Last month, he signed a contract extension that would, in theory, keep him at Brighton for another four years. «This team opened the door for me and offered me a new contract, and I signed it,» he says of the somewhat unexpected new deal.
Crucial to his reintegration was Roberto De Zerbi, the Italian who took over from Potter in September and took Brighton to the brink of Europe and the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United on Sunday. “He came up to me, we talked and he told me to stay calm. That this will not be the last club to accept me, ”says Caicedo. «I would have more opportunities and he told me to keep doing what I'm doing and what I'll see in the future is that I won't regret if I stay.»
Any regrets over the events of 10 weeks ago are likely to be mitigated, if not completely eliminated, by the prospect of an FA Cup final next month. United stand in Brighton's path, but Caicedo is eloquent and adamant: the Premier League's most progressive team has nothing to fear at Wembley this weekend.
Caicedo was reinstated at Brighton and has become one of the league's most effective midfielders. Photo: Reuters/John Sibley
“We are very excited about the release of the game,” he says. “Our preparations are going very well because it will be a great fight, a very good game to watch. This is what we are preparing for, with the intention of winning.”
This is a blunt performance by a man who is not at all afraid to speak his mind. But confidence doesn't come out of thin air. It was the work of De Zerby, the former coach of Shakhtar Donetsk, that inspired confidence in the Brighton players who could so easily have been thwarted by the departure of Potter and his team.
This is, of course, the Brighton model: keep calm and carry on. When Potter left, he had a plan — there is always a plan in Brighton — and in De Zerby they stumbled upon the gold again.
So what is his secret? “He always studies every detail, whether we win or lose,” adds Caicedo.
“He is always aware of every detail, because these are precisely these smallest details. after all, it matters, so that's one good thing about it. He doesn't just settle for winning; he wants more in every game because that way we can also progress individually.”
Rumors that Liverpool are also interested in Caicedo are unlikely to end questions about his future. «I just want to have a really good season with Brighton now, finish the season well and play really well, and then we'll see what happens next season,» he says diplomatically.
However, there is time and for another revelation. Does he want Arsenal to win the title? “Of course,” he confirms. «I hope, but we'll see.»
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