Chelsea rival Newcastle for Moises Caicedo transfer

Chelsea are set to escalate their pursuit of Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo after missing out on Manuel Ugarte, but Newcastle United look like one to watch in the race for his signature as well.

That’s according to Ben Jacobs in his weekly column exclusively for CaughtOffside, with the reporter explaining that the Blues have always had Caicedo as one of their top targets for this summer.

The Ecuador international has shone in his time at Brighton and it makes sense that he’s now seen as a top target for so many bigger clubs, with Jacobs also mentioning Arsenal as one of the clubs interested in him as we head into the summer transfer window.

Still, it seems that Chelsea missing out on Ugarte is now set to see them step things up with Caicedo, so it will be interesting to see if the 21-year-old can be convinced to move to Stamford Bridge even when the west Londoners can’t offer Champions League football.

Arsenal and Newcastle would be able to offer Caicedo the chance to play in Europe’s top club competition after both finishing in the top four, but we’ve also seen quite how much Chelsea are ready to spend to land the targets they want.

“For Caicedo, Chelsea are the ones to watch and now they have missed out on Manuel Ugarte, they will definitely escalate that chase. Caicedo has always been on Chelsea’s summer list,” Jacobs said.

“Brighton haven’t quoted a specific price but it’s understood they will hold out for a minimum guaranteed fee of £70m plus at least £10m in add ons.

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“Arsenal are also considering Caicedo again and keep an eye on Newcastle as well, who want a central midfielder along with a more creative-minded one like Leicester’s James Maddison.”

It would be some statement by Newcastle if they could land both Caicedo and Maddison in the same summer, with two deals like that surely set to help firmly establish Eddie Howe’s side as a serious force in the race for the top four again.