January 28th, Arsenal very much hope to sign the Brighton midfielder before the end of the winter window
Caicedo, The Athletic’s article analyzes why Arsenal signed the Ecuadorian international.
The following is the text content:
In the office of Arsenal’s technical director Edu, there is a map of the depth of Arsenal’s lineup. At the beginning of the winter window, Edu pointed out three positions that urgently need reinforcement: winger, midfielder and left center back.
If they can successfully sign Caicedo, then their winter window signings will be successful. They have already signed Trossard and Kiviol before.
Arguably, back in December, not even the most optimistic Arsenal staff could have imagined that would happen.
Building a team is a long-term process. At the beginning of January, they expected that the strengthening of the midfield would be completed in the summer window. Before that, Arsenal focused on the transfer of Mudrick.
Erneni and Lokonga, they have thickness in the midfield.
As the transfer window progressed, Mudrick moved to Chelsea due to salary, and then Arsenal quickly shifted their target to Trossard. His transfer fee was 27 million pounds, 60 million pounds cheaper than Mudrick.
But at the same time, Elneny’s injury kept him out ahead of the Tottenham game, prompting reminiscences of Arsenal’s closing moments of the summer window, when they had hoped to sign Douglas Luiz from Villa
.
Arteta also acknowledged his concerns over Elneny’s injury.
In the FA Cup game against Manchester City, Thomas was replaced due to injury at half-time. This unexpected absence forced Arsenal to speed up the signings.
They intend to sign Rice, but the West Ham captain is unlikely to leave the team in the winter window.
Arteta and Arsenal hope to find candidates as soon as possible, and Caicedo quickly became their key target for signings.
They believe the 21-year-old is capable of succeeding Thomas and he still has potential.
Caicedo will provide thickness to Arsenal’s midfield after Lokonga let Arteta down.
In addition, Caicedo’s experience in the Premier League is also one of the points of Arsenal’s interest.
But the transfer won’t be done so quickly, at least not like Trossard’s move.
In this case, the player has fallen out with the coach, and Brighton is also interested in selling.
Brighton have previously rejected a £60m bid from Arsenal and insist they will not sell Caicedo in the winter window.
Caicedo also stated in an interview with the club’s official website on January 24 that he is focused on Brighton.
Arsenal hope to resolve the issue and Caicedo’s attitude towards the rejection of the offer will have an impact on the negotiations between the two clubs.
While Brighton’s position has been clear, having rejected a £55m bid from Chelsea and a £60m bid from Arsenal, they do not want to sell the Ecuador international mid-season, not least given their need for
While the club’s European qualification was struggling, they had never qualified for European competition before.
Moreover, Caicedo is an important member of the team, whether under the former coach Porter or De Zerby.
In the Premier League this season, in the defensive midfielder position, only Rodri has created a higher expected goal value (4.05) than Caicedo (3.08) in open play.
And in the five major leagues, Caicedo’s number of steals and clearances is also ranked in the top 5% of the position of the midfielder.
He also has a success rate of 70 per cent for aerial duels, the third highest of any Premier League midfielder.
(justin)