Moises Caicedo Set For Medical With Chelsea On Monday As Brighton Star Nears British Record Transfer

Chelsea have reached an agreement with Brighton & Hove Albion to sign Moises Caicedo for a British record £115million (€133m, $146m).

Chelsea are set to pay £100m up front with £15m in performance-related add-ons, half of which they believe are more easily achievable than the other. Brighton will also hold a sell-on clause as part of the deal.

Caicedo is expected to sign eight-year deal with the Blues, with an option of a further season as the midfielder has been given permission by Brighton to undergo a medical on Monday.

The West London club have pursued Caicedo all summer after seeing Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all depart the club.

They have long been considered the front-runners for Caicedo, but Liverpool made a late move to hijack the deal for the 21-year-old, and saw a bid of £110million accepted by Brighton following a midnight deadline for bids on Thursday.

Brighton have already sold Caicedo’s midfield partner Alexis Mac Allister to Liverpool, who will be competing with them in the Europa League next season.

Caicedo really made a name for himself at Brighton last season as he featured in all but one of the Seagulls Premier League matches.

The Ecuador international had expected to travel to Merseyside for a medical on Friday, but he had a change of heart and remained in London refusing to join Liverpool, as he made clear of his desires to join Chelsea.

Caicedo could be the perfect midfield combo for Mauricio Pochettino's side when paired with Argentine World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez, who joined from Benfica at the beginning of the year for £106.8million.

Fans had hoped a deal would be completed in time for their clash against Liverpool on Sunday.

However, they will have to wait a little longer for the highly anticipated player to complete the move.

Liverpool are in need of a new defensive midfielder after Fabinho departed to Al Ittihad and Jordan Henderson similarly moved to Al Ettifaq.

They have also been interested in Southampton’s Romeo Lavia, who is on Liverpool’s radar too, but could potentially face another transfer battle, as Chelsea have tabled bids for Lavia in the past few weeks.

Chelsea’s move for USMNT international Tyler Adams collapsed on Friday. They had been close to signing Adams from Leeds United, with the 24-year-old having an active relegation release clause of around £20m.

Following a 1-1 draw against Liverpool in their Premier League opening fixture at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Pochettino’s side are back in action when they take on West Ham next weekend.