Cast your mind back to this week last year, which’ll surely go down as the most eventful one of Moises Caicedo’s life so far.
As Liverpool scrambled around for a defensive midfield recruit following Fabinho’s abrupt exit to Al-Ittihad, the Reds agreed a £111m fee with Brighton for the Ecuador star just two days before their opening match of the season against Chelsea.
Then, in an ironic twist, the Blues gazumped us 24 hours later by offering £115m, with the deal being completed the day after our 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.
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Caicedo largely struggled in his first year in west London, although an improved finish to the campaign was characterised by an astonishing 50-yard goal against Bournemouth on the final day.
As per Fabrizio Romano, the 22-year-old has no regrets about choosing Chelsea over Liverpool, although he did admit that it was a tough call between the two clubs.
The midfielder said: “I still remember one year ago… difficult decision, Liverpool is a big team but Chelsea were with me for a couple months and I felt like I couldn’t miss this move. They were with me in tough times; it was a difficult decision… but 100% the right one.”
Moises Caicedo: “I still remember one year ago… difficult decision, Liverpool is a big team but Chelsea were with me for a couple months and I felt like I couldn’t miss this move”.
“They were with me in tough times, it was a difficult decision… but 100% the right one”. pic.twitter.com/mQLiz2RDgg
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 5, 2024
At the time, it was a dagger to Liverpool hearts to miss out on Caicedo, who’d been so excellent for Brighton in the previous campaign and who seemed to be on his way to Anfield before Chelsea muscled in with a slightly larger bid.
Far from wallowing in self-pity, though, the Reds completed a £16m deal for Wataru Endo just a few days later, and over the season as a whole it turned out to represent far greater value than the Ecuadorian’s move to Stamford Bridge.
LFC finished three places and 19 points ahead of the Blues in the final table, and that was even with our form tailing off post-Easter and the west Londoners enjoying a strong finish, while we also got the better of them in the Carabao Cup final in February despite having a host of first-team regulars out injured.
Therefore, as much as Caicedo choosing Chelsea hurt 12 months ago, Liverpool needn’t have any regrets about how events transpired, with the additions of four other midfielders galvanising Jurgen Klopp’s squad and helping to provide Arne Slot a solid base from which to build this term.
Let’s just hope the ex-Brighton man doesn’t come back to haunt us in the form of a decisive goal against the Reds!
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