Agent of £175k-p/w Chelsea ace admits Arsenal tried to sign star at ‘last minute’

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The agent of Moises Caicedo has now revealed that Arsenal made a late attempt to sign the Chelsea man.

In August, Chelsea paid £115 million to prise Moises Caicedo away from Brighton and Hove Albion. The Ecuadorian midfielder had previously been linked with a switch to Arsenal, as reported by The Standard, but Declan Rice was always the Gunners’ primary target.

Arsenal were able to seal a deal for Rice, paying a club-record £105 million fee to secure his services from West Ham United. Meanwhile, Caicedo went down as one that got away as he made the move to Stamford Bridge.

However, the 22-year-old’s agent, Ali Barat, has now claimed that the north London club made a late play to try to snap up his client for themselves. Speaking to TuttoMercatoWeb, the agent said of Caicedo’s big money move to Chelsea, “it was a fantastic moment, culmination of three and a half years of work. It was an exciting and also very tense moment, at the last minute as you know Arsenal and Liverpool also came into play. It was definitely a great experience.”

It has taken Caicedo a while to find his feet at Chelsea, as the west London outfit have been struggling for consistency on the pitch generally. They currently find themselves in 10th place in the Premier League table with five defeats already on their record for this campaign.

The £175,000-a-week ace, though, has now established himself as a key figure in the middle of the park for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.

Arsenal will not regret missing out on Moises Caicedo

Arsenal, meanwhile, will not be feeling too rueful about having failed to sign Caicedo themselves. Rice has been a revelation at the Emirates Stadium, and has already lived up to his price tag. On top of that, after a slow start, fellow summer signing Kai Havertz now looks to be coming into his own in a midfield role at Arsenal.

The Gunners spent heavily in the recent summer transfer window. On top of the huge fee they paid for Rice, they parted with £65 million to sign Havertz from Chelsea. A further £38 million was committed to bring in Jurrien Timber. Whilst goalkeeper David Raya was signed on an initial loan deal, Arsenal are expected to pay £27 million to make the Spanish shot-stopper’s switch permanent.

Given this outlay, it is highly doubtful that Arsenal could have actually afforded Caicedo as well. Mikel Arteta and sporting director Edu will be delighted with the business they managed to get done, and with the Gunners currently top of the Premier League table, it is hard to argue that they made any missteps in the market.