Stephen McGowan has revealed how the name of Moises Caicedo slipped through the Celtic net three years before the midfielder joined Chelsea in a £115m deal.
Brighton have cleared a profit of over £110m on that individual deal with those funds already being reinvested as they provide the perfect working example of the fabled Player Trading Model that many clubs seem to be trying to implement.
Celtic have had their own success stories from Virgil van Dijk to Jota but every club also has a few skeletons in the cupboard when it comes to transfer business.
The dealings of 2020 however were undoubtedly a low point, an expensive low point in Celtic’s business dealings although the January 2021 transfer of Jeremie Frimpong salvaged some of the damage caused.
Ivan Toney was famously in the building at Lennoxtown before Celtic changed direction to sign Albian Ajeti. Ismaila Soro and Patryk Klimala were signed in January with Vasilis Barkas, like Ajeti a summer signing. Fortunately Shane Duffy and Diego Laxalt were only signed on loan with David Turnbull the only successful signing from 2020.
As the transfer window comes to a close, Stephen McGowan of the Daily Mail reveals:
Life as a scout with a major football club must be a frustrating way to earn a living. While he can lead the horse to water, he can’t make it drink.
In the summer of 2020, Celtic shelled out £5million for Albian Ajeti. For a fraction of the price they could have landed a young midfielder destined to become the fifth most expensive signing in history.
A former talent spotter on the Parkhead pay roll clocked the potential of a teenage Ecuadorian starlet by the name of Moises Caicedo. Playing for Independiente del Valle in his homeland, the scout reckoned Celtic could land the next big thing for a fee of around £1m. By the time Caicedo had turned 18, a recommendation was sent back to Glasgow to sign him.
Maybe the missive travelled by carrier pigeon. However it got there, Caicedo’s name was added to ‘the list’ and soon it was too late.
By October 2020, the teenage enforcer was making a name for himself. He became the first player born in the 21st century to score in CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying in a 4-2 win over Uruguay. As he acquired more caps, word of the new kid in town spread and Brighton paid £4.5m to take him to England months later.
This week, Caicedo became the most expensive player in British football. Chelsea stepped in to gazump Liverpool with a bid of £115m and, if there was no gnashing of teeth in the east end of Glasgow, then there really should have been.
In the summer of 2019 Celtic were strongly linked with Jose Cifuentes which confirms that they did have representatives at work in EcuadorCeltic’s main interest in Caicedo will be hoping that none of the Chelsea fee is used to entice any of Rodgers’ squad to replace him at Brighton.
