ARSENAL are reportedly facing a huge fight this summer for Moises Caicedo as Liverpool have become the “dark horses” to sign the Brighton star.
The 21-year-old attempted to force a late move away from the Seagulls last month.
The Ecuadorian international took to social media to publicly plead with the club to allow him to seal a dream move to Arsenal.
The Gunners tabled a number of bids for the ace, with the highest being £70million, but each one was rejected by their Premier League rivals.
Chelsea were also keen on Caicedo with manager Graham Potter having previously signed and managed the player at Brighton before taking the role at Stamford Bridge.
However, now Liverpool have emerged as a serious threat to both teams in what could turn out to be a summer scramble for the player.
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Jurgen Klopp is known to be searching for midfield reinforcements after the disappointments of this season.
And journalist Ben Jacobs told TEAMtalk the Reds are “dark horses” in the battle to sign Caicedo due to Arsenal now making West Ham’s Declan Rice their “number one midfield target”.
He said: “We can’t rule out Arsenal as well but it remains to be seen if they’ll pay the same kind of fee that they were offering in January. Caicedo’s price could actually drop a little bit rather than go up.
“Chelsea could also be back, as they’ll want more than one midfielder and Caicedo has worked with Graham Potter before.
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“Liverpool might be ones to watch as well, as they’ve had a historical interest in Caicedo since before he moved to Brighton.
“However, they never bid in January, contrary to what reports said. The reason for that is two-fold, one because they didn’t see value at the kind of figures being quoted and two, because the agent situation was complicated and those are not the type of deals that Liverpool normally do.
“But if we get to the summer and the deal becomes simpler and falls within Liverpool’s valuation then they could go for Caicedo too.”
Meanwhile, Caicedo’s agent, Manuel Sierra, has slammed Brighton for denying his client a dream move.
The South American has taken the Premier League by storm since stepping into the Brighton set-up initially under Potter following a £5m move from Independiente del Valle in his homeland two years ago.
Under current manager Roberto De Zerbi his development has continued at a rapid pace, with Brighton continuing to march up the table.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
