Moises Caicedo has had a tremendous debut season at Chelsea following his move to Stamford Bridge last summer for a record breaking fee of £115 million.
The defensive midfielder has been a key part of the starting line up for Chelsea, making 48 appearance across all competitions last season, supporting the Blues to a sixth place finish in the Premier League, securing UEFA Europa Conference League football for next year in the final game of the season.
Their final match saw Chelsea climb from seventh to sixth with a 2-1 win over Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge, with Caicedo getting his first goal in a Chelsea shirt.
The 22-year-old was also a key part of their cup runs, making it to the Semi-Finals of the FA Cup, being knocked out by Manchester City with a 1-0 thanks to a Bernardo Silva goal, with the Blues making it all the way to the EFL Cup Final where they lost 1-0 to Liverpool on extra time thanks to a Virgil van Dijk header.
Caicedo’s run of form has shown why Chelsea were keen to pay so much for the Ecuadorian to bring him from Brighton where he shone throughout the 2022/23 season.
Caicedo’s impressive performances at club level have understandably got him noticed by the Ecuador national team, with the 22-year-old being awarded 45 caps so far and grabbing three international goals for his country.
Being such a strong part of the Ecuadorian squad, Caicedo is currently in the United States with the team competing in the Copa America where Ecuador came second in Group B behind Venezuela and are now set to play Argentina in the Quarter-Finals.
However, reports now suggest that Caicedo was scouted by United back in 2021 when he was still playing for Ecuadorian club Independiente del Valle, his boyhood club where he was promoted to the first team, and was considered for a loan move before he committed to Brighton at the end of the January transfer window.
The Athletic has revealed that United’s extensive scouting operation in South America brought Caicedo under close monitoring by the start of the January 2021 transfer window.
At the time, a $2 million release clause was included in the then 19-year-old’s contract, which was not seen as an issue. The idea of United at the time was for Caicedo to be a development signing to join the Red Devils at reserve team level, with the intension to make a loan move for the star until the end of the season.
United begin to negotiate a deal with multiple different agents which very quickly became quite complex, with one presentation of a contract for the Ecuadorian doubling the release clause figure to $4 million. As a result, the deal never made it through, with some people close to the situation believing the deal should have still gone through and others agreeing with the Premier League club stepping away as he was not a top level academy target at the time.
Ultimately, Caicedo joined Brighton and Hove Albion led by Dan Ashworth at the time, for €5 million which has now increased to €28.2 million thanks to the agreed 20% future transfer fee agreed in the deal, earning Independiente del Valle a further €23.2 million.
