TELEGRAPH
Roberto De Zerbi has said Brighton are “ready to go forward” without midfielder Moises Caicedo as Arsenal prepare to step up their interest in the 21-year-old before Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
Arsenal had a bid of £60 million rejected last week, with Brighton insisting that Caicedo is not for sale this month, but the Premier League leaders are giving strong consideration to making another offer before the window closes.
Caicedo has made it clear that he wants to leave Brighton this month and has not trained since posting an extraordinary statement on social media on Friday. He was not involved in Brighton’s FA Cup victory over Liverpool on Sunday, despite De Zerbi initially planning to start him in midfield.
‘I can understand when you received a request from a big team’
De Zerbi’s post-match comments provided the first suggestion that Caicedo could be allowed to leave this month, although the Brighton head coach made it clear that he would still prefer for the midfielder to remain until the end of the season.
“Caicedo is a very good guy,” said De Zerbi. “I can understand him because when you are 21 and you receive the request of a big, big team that is playing in Europe, I can understand.
“I would like that he can finish the season with us, but we are ready to go forward without him. I think we need some players in some positions – I spoke a lot of times with Tony [Bloom, the club’s owner] and he knows very well my opinion. We are a good team but we can also improve from the transfer market.”
Chelsea have also shown interest in Caicedo this month and had a bid of their own, worth £55m, rejected earlier in January. It remains to be seen whether they decide to compete with Arsenal in the final days of the window, having already beaten their north London rivals to the signing of winger Mykhaylo Mudryk this month.
Arsenal have already signed one player from Brighton this month, having completed a £21m move for Leandro Trossard earlier in the window.
De Zerbi: ‘I was surprised by Caicedo’s statement on Instagram’
“We lost Trossard and if we lose Caicedo it can be a problem for us if we want to fight for Europe, or the maximum [position] on the table,” said De Zerbi. “If we want to stay like this we can, but I don’t like [it].”
Asked if he was surprised by Caicedo’s statement on social media, in which the player said he wanted to “take up this magnificent opportunity”, De Zerbi hinted that he feels the Ecuadorian has been influenced by those around him.
“Yes, I was surprised,” De Zerbi said. “But I can understand where it started. Moises is a good guy.”
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