Liverpool aren’t willing to entertain Brighton’s £100m asking price for midfielder Moises Caicedo this summer.
With the Reds in search of a defensive-minded midfielder, Caicedo would look like a perfect fit. Liverpool clearly rate him very highly and the Ecuadorian has so
far failed to secure a move elsewhere.
Despite that, the Reds have seemingly stayed out of any bidding for Caicedo. This has baffled supporters, and the likes of legendary centre-back Jamie Carragher,
who said on Twitter that he ‘wasn’t sure’ why his old club didn’t go in for the Brighton man.
Well, in response to Carragher’s question, The Athletic have attempted to provide an answer.
They claim that it’s very simple, really. Liverpool haven’t tried to buy Caicedo because of his £100m valuation. Having so far failed to meet Southampton’s £50m
price for Romeo Lavia, there’s reportedly no appetite for the Reds to double that for Caicedo.
Liverpool won’t pay Caicedo price
We’re not altogether sure what Carragher’s furore over Caicedo is. Yes, he looks like he’d be as good an answer as Liverpool may get to their midfield problem this
summer. Former Brighton boss Graham Potter was right to call him ‘fantastic’ last August [The Argus]. He’s also available for the right price.
But that price just so happens to be one that would obliterate the Reds’ record transfer fee.
In this distorted market, it’s hard to know just what good value is. Having said that, paying £100m for a player with just 45 Premier League games to his name is
quite clearly obscene.
For context, Lavia has played 29 times in the division, and Liverpool are – quite rightly – balking at £50m.
In the end, it looks like they’re just going to have to bite the bullet and pay that to Southampton. £50m is still manageable for Liverpool, but they’ll be damned if
they have to double that on any player.
Quite clearly there’ll be supporters who don’t agree with this stance. They’ll see Caicedo as the best out there right now. Admirably, they’ll be of the opinion that
Liverpool should be able to spend these sums.
But that simply isn’t how the Reds have done their business under FSG. We know that. Unless Brighton drastically lower their demands for the Ecuador
international, there’s no chance of him coming anywhere near Anfield.
Gary Neville says FSG really should have bought £100m player for Liverpool this summer
Liverpool owners FSG failed Jurgen Klopp by not spending £100m to sign Moises Caicedo this summer.
Despite being heavily linked with a move away from Brighton, Caicedo is still on the market for the moment. The Seagulls want an enormous figure for him though, which Liverpool are not interested in paying.
Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped fans and pundits alike hailing the 21-year-old as being the answer to the Reds’ midfield issues. And speaking on The Overlap today, Gary Neville joined that chorus.
“He’s [Klopp] shielding them [FSG] there’s no doubt,” says the pundit. “He’s doing an unbelievable job, he’s done the best job of anybody I believe in the last seven,
eight years, [given] the budget he’s had and the spend that he’s had. But he can’t keep doing it, he can’t keep doing it.
“He needs that money to be able to compete. They should just be going and getting Caicedo now for him and saying ‘right, there you go, that’s dealt with, it’s sorted,
it’s £100m.’
“But they’re not. They’re trying to pinch someone off Southampton for 40 million quid [Romeo Lavia], who’s a good player don’t get me wrong, but Jurgen
Klopp needs the real deal.
“They can’t challenge Manchester City with a player who’s got potential, they need to do it with a player who’s real. I do think it’s going to come back on the owners
at some point.”
Neville urges Liverpool to get Caicedo
It’s certainly tempting to see Neville’s point of view here. There are plenty of fans who would claim that spending £100m on Caicedo would magically solve
Liverpool’s problems, too.
But the reality is that the Reds have too much to do to go spending quite so much on just one player.
That’s on FSG and the recruitment team as well, of course. They’ve left the team malnourished over recent years, in the midfield especially.
They backed themselves into a situation where they now absolutely have to bring in three or four midfielders this summer. A new defender wouldn’t go amiss either.
So, while Caicedo may still be the outstanding candidate, it simply isn’t going to happen. You don’t get the impression that that bothers Klopp especially, he seems to
thrive on bringing in slightly less fashionable players and working wonders with them.
It’s also worth pointing out that Caicedo is still a very young player himself. He isn’t 24-year-old seasoned international and ex club captain Declan Rice, for
example. Rice has over 250 senior appearances to his name and was also overpriced at £105m.
So, there’s every chance that Liverpool could spend £100m on Caicedo and he’d still take plenty of time to settle in and get up to speed. As has been shown countless
times throughout football, transfer price really means very little. We’ll always back Klopp and his coaches to get the best out of whatever they’ve got available. That
isn’t going to change.
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