Moises Caicedo agent speaks out on failed Liverpool transfer

Moises Caicedo's agent has confirmed how much Chelsea paid Brighton for the midfielder, while revealing his client never wanted to join Liverpool.

The Caicedo transfer saga became one of the big talking points of the summer, when Liverpool saw a bid of £111m accepted to bring the Ecuadorian to Anfield as they sought a replacement following the departures of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson to Saudi Arabia.

However, Caicedo ultimately turned down the move to Anfield, preferring to join Chelsea, who had failed to meet Brighton's asking price before the Reds entered the picture.

Ultimately Chelsea got their man, while also signing Liverpool's backup target Romeo Lavia, in a chaotic period of the transfer window for the Reds' recruitment.

Speaking to Sport Italia, agent Andrea Pellegatti revealed that Mauricio Pochettino's side ended up paying Brighton £116m for the transfer, while Caicedo only had eyes for Stamford Bridge, with the Blues having put in the groundwork on a deal since the start of the year.

"[It was] £116m, equivalent to €133m. The result of a lot of work on the player, who quickly progressed in England after moving to Belgium," Pellegatti said. "With De Zerbi he exploded and then we came to Chelsea and Liverpool who they fought over him. "The amount paid is not random. It was finalised in the last few hours, but the boy only wanted Chelsea, who had started to show their interest consistently since January."

After the frustration of losing out on both the Caicedo and Lavia deals to Chelsea, Liverpool ended the transfer window with the signings of Wataru Endo, for £16m from Stuttgart, and Ryan Gravenberch, for £34m from Bayern Munich.

Both Caicedo and Lavia have endured rocky starts at Chelsea. The latter is yet to play a game for his new side having sustained an ankle injury in training, while the former gave away a penalty in the defeat to West Ham on his debut.

After five gameweeks, Chelsea sit in 14th with just one win, while Liverpool are third, behind only Manchester City on points.