Brighton and Hove Albion CEO Paul Barber has shed light on why Moises Caicedo joined Chelsea instead of Liverpool this summer.
The Seagulls agreed a British record £111m fee with Liverpool for Caicedo's services, but the player's unwillingness to join the Reds allowed Chelsea to steal in, make a bigger offer and eventually sign the Ecuadorian for £115m.
Speaking about the inner-workings of why Caicedo's move to Anfield ultimately fell through to Sky Sports News, Brighton CEO Barber stated that once the club handed negotiations over to the player and his representatives then the deal began to hit the rocks.
"It was difficult because we agreed a price with Liverpool and at that point we have to hand over to the player and his agent to try and agree personal terms," Barber said. "When that process starts to break down of course we have to revert back to what's best for Brighton, and that's what we did.
"We were respectful to Liverpool for as long as it was viable that the player would go there, but as soon as we were aware that that wasn't going to be his choice then we had to switch our attention and try and get the best possible price from Chelsea.
"Towards the back end of last week it became apparent that it almost certainly wasn't going to happen with Moises and Liverpool and, at that point, we had to engage with Chelsea and try and agree a deal with them."
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Barber also revealed that Chelsea had been interested in Caicedo for much longer than Liverpool had been during the summer transfer window, and discussed how Brighton eked out a British record fee for the 21-year-old's services.
"Chelsea were interested all through the summer, Liverpool were a little bit later. We try to do our transfer business as confidentially as possible, we try and respect both the player and the clubs that are bidding, but at the end of the day, our job is to try and do the best for our club and that means negotiating as hard as we can when we're in that position.
"They were tough negotiations. I think when you're dealing with any level of the transfer market, but particularly the top end, everyone is looking to create the best position for themselves. In our case we had an asset that was very important to our club, probably one of the best midfielders in Europe, potentially one of the best midfielders in the world, we didn't want to lose him and we wanted him on a long contract but we simply were looking to ensure we could achieve the best possible price.
After missing out on signing Caicedo, Liverpool turned their attentions to Stuttgart's Wataru Endo, who they completed the signing of on Friday.
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This article was originally published on 90min as Revealed: Why Moises Caicedo transfer to Liverpool fell apart.