The Declan Rice record has tumbled in a £110m Moises Caicedo deal and it’s bad news for West Ham and Chelsea.
There was a time when Chelsea looked set to be the most likely destination upon Declan Rice’s West Ham departure.
But with Arsenal the only London club in the Champions League, Rice ended up joining the Gunners in a new British record deal worth £105m instead.
Chelsea and Liverpool and been scrambling to make their own statement midfield signings since that Rice deal.
Meanwhile West Ham could be set to make as much as £90-95m by selling Lucas Paqueta to Man City.
But there has been a big twist overnight which blows it all out of the water.
Declan Rice record tumbles in £110m Moises Caicedo deal and it’s bad news for West Ham and Chelsea
Because the Rice record has tumbled in a £110m Moises Caicedo deal and it’s bad news for West Ham and Chelsea.
The Brighton midfielder Caicedo was in London yesterday ahead of an anticipated move to West Ham’s London rivals Chelsea.
In a huge twist, though, Liverpool have swooped to agree a monster £110m deal for the Blues target in what could be a big blow for the Hammers.
Caicedo had made it clear for weeks that he wanted to join Chelsea according to The Telegraph. But it’s being widely reported Liverpool have now won the race with their new British record bid beating the Rice deal by £5m.
Moyes Caice-DOH!
The repercussions are not only bad for Chelsea and manager Mauricio Pochettino, though.
Since January, Jorginho, Mason Mount, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and N’Golo Kante have all left Chelsea.
And it was reported that West Ham could finally agree a deal with Chelsea for Conor Gallagher should they sign Caicedo.
But Liverpool look to have killed David Moyes’ hopes stone dead by breaking the Rice record and denying Chelsea Caicedo.
Any hopes of West Ham deal for Chelsea’s Gallagher now look dead
With Rice and Manuel Lanzini having left the London Stadium, Paqueta likely to join Man City and Flynn Downes reportedly heading for Southampton, West Ham will need to sign three central midfielders instead of two.
Former Chelsea target Edson Alvarez was unveiled by the Hammers yesterday. And James Ward-Prowse looks set to follow.
But Gallagher and Scott McTominay remain West Ham targets given the worrying lack of numbers.
It now seems the latter will become main focus even with Chelsea short there too even allowing for the arrival of Tyler Adams from Leeds.