Moises Caicedo, despite only just finishing his first season in England, will be one of the most sought-after players in the country this summer.
Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are all vying for his services as they look to bolster their respective midfields with one of Europe’s brightest young stars.
The Gunners of course had a bid rejected in January prior to the Ecuadorian signing a new contract, while United seem to have set a new midfielder as a top priority for the months ahead. Chelsea, though, remain the favourites to secure Caicedo’s services.
However, despite his new contract, Caicedo looks certain to follow Alexis Mac Allister out of the Amex Stadium exit door before the end of the transfer window with Roberto De Zerbi all-but resigned to the fact that one of his most important players in Brighton’s amazing season will be leaving.
Even after his desire to leave the Seagulls in January, and the rumours that continued to circulate thereafter, Caicedo remained professional and played to the best of his ability, and was a key reason behind Brighton’s best-ever top flight finish.
Here, WhoScored.com have looked at why Caicedo is high on a number of star-studded transfer wishlists this summer.
The aforementioned trio need a ball-winning midfielder who can sit in front of the defence this summer. For Arsenal, this would allow Martin Odegaard and potentially Declan Rice – if a deal can be agreed – the freedom to get forward, while for the Blues, it would benefit club-record signing Enzo Fernandez. United do have Casemiro on the books, but with an ageing midfield, they need to prepare for the future.
Caicedo most definitely fills the bill as a ball-winning midfielder having developed statistically calculated WhoScored.com strengths of ‘tackling’ and ‘ball interceptions’, and the numbers back this up.
When it comes to his pursuit of possession, the Ecuador international made 100 tackles in the Premier League last season, which only nine players in Europe’s top five leagues could match.
He was one of only two players in England’s top tier to reach triple figures for tackles, with Fulham’s Joao Palhinha (147) the other.
What makes that return all the more impressive is the consistency in which Caicedo wins his tackles. Of the 115 players in Europe’s top five leagues to attempt 100 or more tackles in 2022/23, his tackle success rate of 78.1 per cent was the third best, behind only Juventus’ Danilo (81.4 per cent) and Espanyol’s Vinicius Souza (79.2 per cent) as he was dribbled past just 28 times in his 3141 minutes of action.
In terms of intercepting the ball, Caicedo again ranked highly in the Premier League last season, sitting joint second with 56, behind a potential future teammate in Rice (63). Additionally, among players aged 21 and under in Europe’s top five leagues, only Lyon’s Castello Lukeba (75), a player who could be on the move to the Premier League this summer, could better that figure last season.
To further set in stone just how good Caicedo was in carrying out his defensive duties last term, he was one of only 25 players to win the ball at least 200 times (248) in the Premier League, with only seven players betting that return.
This includes winning possession in the midfield third 142 times, which only Manchester City’s Rodri (187) and Rice (173) could better. Even in the air, the midfielder holds an advantage above most, winning 63.8 per cent of the aerial duels he contested last season.
Caicedo ranks as one of the ball winners in Europe, and has the potential to become even better, which may go some way in explaining Brighton’s hefty asking price. He is more than just a ball-winning midfielder, though.
The former Independiente del Valle youngster is able to pick out a teammate with ease. Indeed, Caicedo’s pass success rate of 88.8 per cent was bettered by only 16 players in the Premier League last season, nine of whom played for either Arsenal or Manchester City.
Not only is his passing range accurate, but it is also vast. ‘Likes to do layoffs’ is a statistically calculated WhoScored.com style of play, which of course can play a key part in creating attacking situations in De Zerbi’s system.
All 32 of Caicedo’s attempted layoffs were accurate, with only seven players in the Premier League last season making more. Going direct is occasionally required, even from the best possession-based teams, and Caicedo ticks this box, too, having averaged 2.5 accurate long balls per 90 in England’s top tier last term.
A key benefit for Mikel Arteta’s side, however, is Caicedo’s ability to adapt to different positions and still perform to a high standard.
At the end of the 2022/23 campaign, we saw Arteta start Thomas Partey at right-back, a role Caicedo operated in on occasion last season.
Due to injuries, De Zerbi started the midfielder at right-back three times in the 2022/23 Premier League campaign, while his best rated performance according to WhoScored.com came while starting at right-back against Arsenal at the Emirates (7.87) when the Seagulls ran riot with a 3-0 victory.
Here, Caicedo was not only able to showcase his talent off the ball as he made more tackles (5) than any other player, but also in possession as only Bukayo Saka (4) completed more successful dribbles than the Brighton star (3).
Modern football is demanding more from players to perform to a high standard in a variety of positions, and this is something Caicedo has demonstrated that he can clearly do.
Brighton won’t budge on a big fee for Caicedo, and any potential moves for him will prove to be one of the sagas of the summer and after his displays last season, it is easy to see why.
If he does secure a Seagulls exit in the off season, then his new side will be landing one of football’s brightest young midfielders.
