Moises Caicedo is starting to play like N’Golo Kante and enjoyed his ‘best game in a Chelsea shirt’ over the weekend, according to another ex-Blues midfielder.
Caicedo was the subject of a bidding war between Chelsea and Liverpool in the summer of 2023 after bursting onto the scene with Brighton and establishing himself as a top Premier League midfielder. Liverpool went on to agree a club-record £111million deal with Brighton for Caicedo, but he incredibly did not end up going to Anfield.
The Ecuador star rejected Liverpool’s advances as he wanted to stick to his word and join Chelsea. Caicedo went on to sign for Chelsea for an initial £100m, which could rise to £115m through add-ons.
However, just like several other of Chelsea’s signings during the Todd Boehly era, Caicedo struggled during his debut season at Stamford Bridge.
He did not look anything like the player who had starred for Brighton, leading to questions over why Chelsea had paid so much for his services.
The 22-year-old improved towards the end of last season though, and he is now thriving under new Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca.
Caicedo put in another great performance on Saturday as Chelsea picked up a convincing 3-0 win at London rivals West Ham United.
He managed a pass accuracy of 89 per cent, made eight tackles, won 13 duels and created one big chance.
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Chelsea latest: John Obi Mikel lauds Moises Caicedo
John Obi Mikel has now heaped praise on Caicedo and compared him to former Premier League player of the season Kante.
During an appearance on his Obi One podcast, the pundit was asked if it was Caicedo’s best game in a Chelsea shirt. Mikel replied: “Yeah, he was everywhere.
“We’ve talked about Moises Caicedo and how much we thought… Of course, he didn’t start his Chelsea career really well and a few games into his Chelsea career, there were loads of mistakes.
“Everyone was thinking, ‘Why did we pay so much money for this guy?’ Now we can see those performances that he was performing at Brighton and stuff like that so, an absolutely fantastic player.
“Everywhere on Saturday. Not just breaking up play, trying to link-up play as well, passing, everything.
“Now you can feel this is the Moises Caicedo that we all know and also when you watch him, when you look at him right now, you can see that there’s a bit of confidence there.
“There’s a bit of, ‘Ok, now I’m playing for Chelsea Football Club, this is my team.’ With the performances, with the way he behaves on the pitch, there is no sort of [ego]… Exactly!
“He’s absolutely fantastic, I watched him there, he was everywhere. It’s a bit like a Kante kind of performance, all credit to Moises and also for the manager to give him such confidence and to make sure that he believes in him.”
Mikel added: “Now he’s paid off with the performances and this is the guy that I think will eventually go on to maybe, probably captain the team.”
Chelsea fans will be delighted that Caicedo is getting back to his best and is proving why the club spent so much money on him. Other signings such as Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile and Raheem Sterling have failed to prove their worth, but Caicedo looks set to be a crucial part of the Maresca project.
As Mikel points out, it would not be a surprise if Caicedo becomes part of Chelsea’s official leadership hierarchy in the near future. Reece James is Chelsea’s current skipper, though he has been plagued by injury in recent seasons.
Meanwhile, Chelsea remain interested in Sporting CP ace Viktor Gyokeres as they continue to hunt an experienced striker.
Current No 9 Nicolas Jackson has enjoyed a brilliant start to the campaign, though there are seemingly doubts over whether he has the potential to become a truly elite goalscorer.
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