Legend’s hilarious backflip as record bid collapses in Premier League’s wildest transfer saga

Chelsea’s pursuit of Brighton’s 21-year-old midfield sensation Moises Caicedo has been one of the longest-running transfer sagas of the window – or the year, if you count them sounding out the Seagulls over a potential deal back in January.

The Ecuador prodigy is Chelsea’s top transfer target, with the club needing to reinforce the midfield after the departures of Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

But they’ve been frustrated by Brighton’s refusal to budge from a £100m valuation for their star man.

That figure is based on Caicedo having four years remaining on his contract and Declan Rice’s recent £105m move from West Ham to Arsenal.

Chelsea has reportedly had up to four bids rejected by Brighton – and Liverpool attempted to swoop in with a late bid worth £100m upfront and an additional £10m in add-ons.

Brighton accepted the deal, something confirmed by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp on Friday – only for Caicedo himself to reject the transfer, as he prefers the move to Stamford Bridge that he has been pushing all window.

Chelsea are back in the driver’s seat as they hope for Liverpool to give up the chase – allowing them to pressure Brighton to reduce their price tag. Chelsea had offers worth up to £80m rejected and were hoping to land him for around £90m before Liverpool started a bidding war.

But Brighton are holding firm, and Chelsea now are stretching their pursebooks to try and land Caicedo for a reported £115m (including add-ons).

However, that could have big implications on their other transfer dealings given their spending is restricted by Financial Fair Play rules.

Chelsea were reportedly on the brink of a £20m deal to sign Tyler Adams from Leeds, but the deal fell apart as Chelsea attempted to change the structure of the deal to pay it off over multiple seasons rather than immediately meet the 24-year-old’s release clause in full.

And the Blues are also in the running for another Liverpool target in relegated Southampton’s Romeo Lavia.

The Blues last week had a £48m bid rejected for the 19-year-old but are reportedly set to improve their offer to an estimated £52m.

However, it remains to be seen whether the Blues can land both Caicedo and Lavia – or which one they will settle on.

The drama left one Liverpool legend backflipping in the space of hours.

When Liverpool had their British-record bid accepted by Brighton, ormer defender Jamie Carragher tweeted: “£110M is a big price for Caicedo but Liverpool had to pay big as clubs knew they were desperate.

“But signing two top young players for £145M and selling two of your older players for £52M is great business!”

But just a handful of hours later, when it came out that Caicedo had rejected the Reds, Carragher took a cheeky dig at Chelsea’s big-spending co-owner Todd Boehly.

He said: “£110M is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a 21-year-old, Boehly has lost his mind yet again.”

Adding more fuel to the dramatic fire, the two teams begin their Premier League campaigns against each other on Monday morning (1.30am AEST).

Caicedo, meanwhile was left out of Brighton’s 4-1 win over newcomers Luton Town.