Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo looks set to join Chelsea after insulting Liverpool. Liverpool have once again offered £111m for the player, although they will certainly never make the decision to do so on such short notice as they did this week when their bid to steal Moises Caicedo's long drawn-out move to Chelsea was made.
The move ignored most of the usual rules that governed the club's cautious transfer policy that has helped Jurgen Klopp create Champions League and Premier League winning teams over the past eight years. The destructive power of the Saudi Professional League's influence on the English game was the main driving force. With Jordan Henderson – and most importantly, Fabinho – leaving so abruptly, Liverpool were suddenly under pressure to sign No. 6 and make a deal urgently.
When Liverpool opened talks with Brighton over Caicedo this week, there was no significant contact with the player or his representatives. This left little chance of success, but the game was considered worthwhile and the club made every usual effort to persuade Caicedo and his representatives to enter into negotiations. Even if he failed, he had at least one advantage: the price Chelsea would pay Brighton would be much higher.
Behdad Egbali, Clearlake Capital's spokesman for the consortium that owns Chelsea, personally oversaw the completion of a £115m deal for the 21-year-old over the course of Saturday. Chelsea got their man and again broke the British midfield transfer record. Liverpool's belated intervention, reported by Telegraph Sport on Thursday, ended in failure.
The game is waiting to see if Chelsea can sign Romeo Lavia before Liverpool can. Liverpool have turned down three bids for the Southampton midfielder and it was Chelsea's £55m bid for the Belgian that coincided this week with the Merseyside club's decision to buy Caicedo. It remains to be seen if Chelsea will continue with Lavia's offer now.
Liverpool didn't plan it the way they planned. They started the summer with one key goal: to sign a pair of No. 8 versatile midfielders. Alexis Mac Allister and Dominique Soboslai were signed relatively quickly for £35m and £60m respectively. Both fees were dictated by the release clauses at their clubs, Brighton and RB Leipzig, making these deals easier to close.
Liverpool faced Manchester United for Mac Allister and won. United focused their attention on Mason Mount, another man who was of interest to Liverpool and ended up costing more. Earlier this year, Liverpool's long chase for Jude Bellingham came to an end when the player made it clear he would join Real Madrid and not other suitors. Prior to the intervention of the Saudi Pro League and the departure of Fabinho in particular, Liverpool were pleased with their trade.Liverpool quickly bought Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton for just £35m. Photo: Getty Images/Henry Nicholls
Now they are forced to make decisions as quickly as possible on transactions that are larger than ever before. There have been big changes in the club's recruiting department over the past two years, with the architect of Klopp's most successful teams Michael Edwards leaving and his anointed successor as technical director, Julian Ward, leaving just 12 months later. Other employees of the department also left. The last sitting president, Jörg Schmadtke, was appointed at a time when the club was forced out of its usual rhythm.
In their most successful years, Liverpool pursued their goals much more slowly and more often – in the case of Virgil van Dijk – returned in the subsequent window to close the deal. The Saudi Arabia deals provided an opportunity to capitalize on players that were never meant to be, but they also hurt squad planning.
“Do we need quantity or quality?” Klopp asked rhetorically on Friday. “The only chance we really had was to bet on quality, and then we have to strain.” With the recent departure, a lot more responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott, and most importantly, this role of No. 6 will have to be filled. Their squad should be almost complete by now, though as the last few weeks have shown, nothing is certain.
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