Chelsea have reached an agreement with Brighton & Hove Albion to sign Moises Caicedo in a deal worth £115million.
Caicedo has medical booked for tomorrow (Monday) with Chelsea and the deal is expected to be completed on the same day, with the player set to sign an eight-year contract with the option of a further season.
The west London club have long been considered the front-runners for Caicedo, but Liverpool made a late move for the 21-year-old on Thursday and saw a bid of £110million accepted by Brighton.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp then said on Friday that a deal had been agreed for his side to sign Caicedo but refused to be drawn on whether the Ecuador international was set to undergo a medical ahead of the proposed transfer.
Later on Friday, Chelsea’s move for USMNT international Tyler Adams collapsed. They had been close to signing Adams from Leeds United, with the 24-year-old having an active relegation release clause of around £20m.
Liverpool’s late entry into negotiations, coupled with the Ecuador international currently being situated in London, had created an acceptance at Anfield that Chelsea almost certainly remained favourites to sign him despite having their bid accepted first.
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Liverpool are in need of a new defensive midfielder after Fabinho departed to Al Ittihad and Jordan Henderson similarly moved to Al Ettifaq.
Chelsea have pursued Caicedo all summer after seeing Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all leave the club.
They have also been interested in Southampton’s Romeo Lavia, who is on Liverpool’s radar too. Both Liverpool and Chelsea have tabled bids for Lavia in the past few weeks.
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.
Chelsea host Liverpool in the first round of Premier League fixtures, with that match taking place on Sunday at 4.30 BST (11.30am ET, 8.30am PT).
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(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images for Premier League)
