Mauricio Pochettino has made a significant Chelsea decision which could help the club save millions on a potential Moises Caicedo transfer. The Blues have been locked in talks with Brighton for the majority of the summer window and yet an agreement still appears some way off as the Seagulls are sticking by their £100million valuation
In-person meetings have taken place with Chelsea and Brighton, along with Caicedo and his agent also meeting club chiefs to discuss a transfer, but still they are refusing to budge on their triple-figure asking price. A potential Caicedo boost may have arrived after Brighton and Ajax reached an agreement in principle for Mohammed Kudus after Fabrizio Romano claimed that the south coast club would be the ones to watch in the race for the versatile 23-year-old if they received big funds from selling Caicedo.
And according to the Athletic, Brighton have now reached a ~€40million (£34.6m) agreement in principle with Ajax to sign Kudus which could hint Chelsea will advance in their pursuit of Caicedo in the coming days. In the meantime, other midfielders are being targeted by the Blues with Tyler Adams’ entourage being contacted by the west Londoners to learn the conditions of the relegation clause in his Leeds contract.
Pochettino is still pushing for Caicedo though, and his latest decision could help save the Blues millions if they are able to complete a swoop for Caicedo. As per the Evening Standard, the Chelsea boss has told Ian Maatsen he wants to keep him at Stamford Bridge this season.
The Cobham graduate spent last season on loan at Championship winners Burnley before returning to Chelsea and impressing in pre-season. Despite predominantly playing at left-back, Maatsen was deployed further forward in the tour of USA and he also has the ability to play in central midfield meaning he is another option the club can look at as they try to bolster their engine room ranks.
By keeping Maatsen at the club, the need for a new winger and central midfielder decreases as he is able to cover those roles which could in theory help Chelsea save a significant money amount of money if they match Brighton’s asking price for Caicedo. The 21-year-old has impressed Pochettino to the point where new contract talks are also set to take place allowing Chelsea to focus their funding in other areas that Maatsen won’t cover.
Chelsea will of course still have to spend big if they want Caicedo, but Pochettino’s double Maatsen decision will help that deal look far more understandable when placed into the context of what keeping Maatsen will do to the Caicedo deal as Chelsea will not have to worry as much about keeping money available to strengthen other departments.
