Transfer News: Chelsea told huge price tag if they want to sign 20-year-old midfielder

Transfer News: Brighton set huge price tag on Moises Caicedo, who is wanted by Chelsea, Newcastle United, Arsenal amongst others

According to Sunday Mirror (h/t Metro), Brighton and Hove Albion have set a huge asking price of £85m for midfielder Moises Caicedo, who is wanted by Chelsea and Premier League rivals Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Newcastle United.

Caicedo has been one of the in-form and key players in the Brighton team this season. He arrived in January 2021 from Independiente before moving on for a half-season loan to Beerschot in the summer. Since January of this year though, he has become a regular starter in the team.

Amongst the clubs linked with him, Chelsea and Newcastle are the favourites. It could be because Chelsea boss Graham Potter has worked with the player before when he was the Brighton manager until last month. Dean Ashworth, the former Seagulls’ technical director who brought the Ecuadorian to the Amex, now works for the Magpies.

The futures of N’Golo Kante (31) and Jorginho (30) is a running concern for Chelsea. Their contracts are due to expire in June and an extension is not agreed upon yet.

While it may be tough for the former to garner a new deal here with his recent injury record, the latter has rejected an offer because he wanted a pay rise.

So, the Blues could soon be in a situation where they would be needing at least two additions to the midfield department come next summer. For that reason, they would not be wrong in continuing their pursuit of Caicedo, and maybe use Potter’s knowledge of the player to attract his interest towards Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have also been linked with Frenkie de Jong, Edson Alvarez and Declan Rice. They missed out on signing either of the former two during the summer, while the possibility of signing the latter is high.

The fans would want them to start completing deals and add more quality and depth to the midfield. It is perhaps the one area which needs to be future-proofed along with the centre-forward department.

More Chelsea News:

• Transfer News: Arsen Zakharyan confirms his wish to come to Chelsea
• Manchester United join Chelsea in the race for Bayer Leverkusen right-back Jeremie Frimpong
• Graham Potter reveals why he took Chelsea goalie Kepa Arrizabalaga off

20-year-old Caicedo could be a good addition in that regard. Those at Chelsea would have witnessed his quality first-hand when he played the full 90 minutes in the Seagulls’ 4-1 win against us yesterday (October 29).