Arsenal knew Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo wanted to join them in January 2023, and the intention at the time was to sign both him and Declan Rice.
Sam Dean reports for The Telegraph that back in January 2023, Arsenal held a secret meeting between Moises Caicedo and key Gunners operatives in north London.
The meeting went positively, with Arsenal then certain that Caicedo wanted to join. The club also had enough money to make a serious offer, and they believed a deal was a matter of time.
It was only Brighton’s overwhelmingly negative response to Arsenal’s bids that ultimately derailed the transfer.
This created a second problem for Arsenal, who always wanted to sign both Caicedo and Declan Rice.
If Caicedo had signed and the Gunners then bid for Rice, it would be clear the club wanted the two players to play together. But after the Caicedo move fell through, it might have appeared to Rice like he was their second choice.
Things mostly worked out in the end. Rice was convinced to join anyway, and even though Arsenal didn’t sign Caicedo, they did at least push his price up.
The Telegraph report that well-placed sources believe Caicedo would have been cheaper for Chelsea if not for Rice’s £105m deal going through first.
A couple of years later, Arsenal have Martin Zubimendi to play the role they wanted Caicedo in, with the Real Sociedad summer signing making a strong start to life in north London.
In a way, the constant comparisons between Caicedo and Rice are a little nonsensical. It was never a choice between the two, and they don’t play the same position.
Even so, many fans are inevitably going to view Sunday’s game as a battle between the two highly-rated midfielders.