Chelsea have reportedly had a £70m bid for Moises Caicedo rejected by Brighton & Hove Albion.
Caicedo signed a new contract at the Amex Stadium after the club rejected two bids from Arsenal in January, when Chelsea were also showing interest.
It is believed that the highest Arsenal bid is similar to what Chelsea have recently offered, and Brighton value the Ecuadorian much higher.
Sky Sports News claims that Brighton are looking for at least £100m for the midfielder, after West Ham United also received a nine-figure fee for Declan Rice from Arsenal.
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Caicedo was signed for just £4.5m from Ecuadorian champions Independiente del Valle in 2021, but having become a regular for club and country, his value has skyrocketed.
After helping his country to reach the 2022 World Cup, Caicedo also played all but one of Brighton's Premier League encounters last season which ended with them finishing sixth and qualifying for Europe for the first time in the club's history.
Caicedo's defensive influence was evident, looking at the statistics across the season, as only Joao Palhinha made more tackles, and only Rice made more interceptions.
Kaveh Solhekol claims that Brighton have no interest in selling the player, and have seen the recent fees paid for Rice and Enzo Fernandez as the benchmark should they eventually let Caicedo go.
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Brighton have already signed Mahmoud Dahoud and James Milner to add to their midfield this summer, but after letting Alexis Mac Allister go to Liverpool, the club will want a substantial fee to let another key player depart.
Chelsea are said to still be confident, given that agreeing personal terms with the player should not be a problem, but the transfer fee looks set to be a major stumbling block.
Other players are in the pipeline should Chelsea fail in their approach for Caicedo, with the Daily Mail claiming that Gabri Veiga and Romeo Lavia are also on the shortlist.
The report also states that Chelsea are expected to go back in with another bid of £80m for the 21-year-old, but that still falls below Brighton's valuation.
Andrew Delaney
