(Reuters) – Liverpool have reached an agreement with Brighton & Hove Albion over the transfer of Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo, manager Juergen Klopp said on Friday as the Premier League club look to address their lack of depth in midfield.
Caicedo, 21, has been linked with a move away from the Amex Stadium after impressing at Brighton, making 37 appearances for the club last season as they finished sixth and secured European football for the first time.
The Ecuadorean has attracted interest from several clubs in the close season window, including Chelsea, but reports in British media on Friday said Liverpool had agreed a deal worth 111 million pounds ($140.91 million) with Brighton.
“I can confirm the (Caicedo) deal with the club is agreed, whatever that means in the end. Of course, we want the player and not just the agreement,” Klopp told reporters ahead of Sunday’s season-opener at Chelsea.
“We don’t have endless resource. We didn’t expect a couple of things to happen over the summer but when that happened we gave it a go. Let’s see what happens and we go from there.”
Caicedo’s reported transfer fee would make him the most expensive player signed by a British club, surpassing the 107 million pounds Chelsea paid for Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez earlier this year.
In 2016, when speaking about Manchester United’s then world record signing of Paul Pogba for 89.3 million pounds, Klopp had said he would approach transfer spending differently if he had the same resources at his disposal.
When asked how he felt about those words following the agreement for Caicedo, the German said: “Everything changed. Do I like it? No. Did I realise I was wrong? Yes.
“I’m not blaming anyone but it’s just the market. In the end, we as a club have to make sure that, with our resources, we get the best possible player.
“We aren’t in a dreamland and can’t just point at a player and get them to come in. Sometimes one door closes and another opens up.”
LIVERPOOL ‘RELOADED’
Caicedo’s potential signing is the latest development in a major overhaul at Anfield following a disappointing campaign, with midfielders Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Naby Keita having left the club.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have signed 24-year-old Argentina World Cup-winner Alexis Mac Allister and Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai, 22, to bolster their midfield.
“We have a new start with this Liverpool FC reloaded – it’s an exciting thing,” Klopp said. “People wanted changes because we’d been together for a long time.
“Did it happen at the right moment? That’s difficult to answer. But now it happened and that’s good.”
Despite Caicedo dominating the headlines, Klopp stressed that the transfer would not overshadow their game against Chelsea, adding that he expected the west London club to be dangerous opponents under new manager Mauricio Pochettino.
“Pochettino is a very good manager. You can see Pochettino’s play already in that team. We know what he does from Tottenham and you can see similarities,” Klopp said of the ex-Spurs boss.
($1 = 0.7877 pounds)
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru)
