Brighton will demand a fee in excess of £100m from Chelsea for Moises Caicedo, with Declan Rice’s impending move to Arsenal the benchmark for a deal.
Chelsea have opened negotiations with Brighton over a deal for Caicedo after seeing an approach for the 21-year-old turned down in January.
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The Ecuador international is the club’s number one transfer target in midfield, following the exits of N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount this summer.
Brighton are reluctant to lose the midfielder after an exceptional Premier League campaign for the club, with Caicedo ranking second in the division for both tackles and interceptions as the Seagulls secured European qualification for the first time in their history.
According to the Telegraph, Brighton will demand a fee of over £100m for Caicedo and believe the midfielder is comparable to Declan Rice, who is closing in on a £105m move from West Ham to Arsenal.
Caicedo’s impressive performances in a similar defensive midfield position to Rice, in addition to being three years younger, mean Brighton will demand a nine-figure fee from Chelsea.
Roberto De Zerbi has reluctantly accepted that Caicedo is likely to move on this summer, but Brighton are set to make a massive profit on a player signed for just £4m from from Independiente del Valle in 2021.
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