Alex Keble takes a look at what Chelsea's new signing will bring to the team.
Player analysis - Moises Caicedo
Anybody who watched Chelsea's 1-1 draw with Liverpool will have noticed what the two managers were missing.
Chelsea won the very public battle for the player identified by both clubs as the No 1 target, reportedly breaking the British transfer record to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton & Hove Albion for £115million.
Fabinho’s departure this summer might have made Liverpool’s need for a new No 6 appear more pressing than Chelsea's, but that is only because N’Golo Kante left Stamford Bridge quietly, after injuries restricted him to just seven Premier League appearances last season.
Chelsea needed to replace their departed No 6 – and they have done so by signing a player whose idolisation of the Frenchman has seen him develop into the new Kante.
Caicedo can be just as influential. He might even become the most important player in the Mauricio Pochettino revolution.
Caicedo's defensive ability the missing link
As a pure destroyer, Caicedo is among the very best in Europe, and Pochettino’s desire to play an adventurous style of football means Chelsea badly need somebody able to break up the play when opposition counter-attacking opportunities arise.
Much like Kante, Caicedo’s recovery tackles and his ability to anticipate where the ball will go, sticking out a spidery leg to turn possession back over, are among his best qualities.
Last season he made 100 tackles, the second-most in the Premier League behind Joao Palhinha, and 56 interceptions, the second-most behind Declan Rice.
He was also eighth overall for recoveries, with 248, and he made the joint-most fouls, committing 65. This might sound like a negative but, like it or not, tactical fouls are an important way for a No 6 to stop a counter and slow down the match.
Compared to Kante in his prime, which statistically speaking was at Chelsea in 2017/18, Caicedo isn’t far off the ridiculous standards the Frenchman set.
Kante v Caicedo comparison
| Kante 17/18 | Caicedo 22/23 | |
| Tackles/90 | 3.39 | 2.87 |
| Interceptions/90 | 2.55 | 1.60 |
| Recoveries/90 | 9.37 | 7.11 |
| Fouls/90 | 1.23 | 1.55 |
On that raw data alone we can see Caicedo is up there with the best of them, adding a defensive bite to a Chelsea team that was light on this quality prior to his arrival.
Caicedo the progressive passer
What separates Caicedo from most No 6s in the game, however, is his capacity to wriggle away from the opposition press and to intelligently pass the ball through tight gaps, much in the way a world-class No 8 would.
Again like Kante, Caicedo’s on-the-ball qualities are often underrated. He is extremely gifted at collecting possession in congested areas and opening the game up with a smart flick around the corner or a quick one-touch turn into space, which will be vital to Pochettino’s brand of football.
Broadly speaking, Pochettino wants his teams to play vertically whenever possible, passing urgently through the thirds so that his attacking players can arrive into the penalty area at speed.
That’s why we see his teams press so high and hard, and why – like Brighton under Roberto De Zerbi – there is nothing more important than a midfielder who can suddenly turn a crowded pitch into an open one.
Caicedo’s 88.8 per cent pass accuracy is second only to Rodri in the Premier League and puts him in the 95th percentile among midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues, per FBRef, which is very impressive considering how often he is showing for the ball in difficult positions – and how often he attempts ambitious passes.
He made 219 progressive passes last season, the 14th-most in the division and 10th-most among midfielders. He also ranked eighth for total carries (1507) and eighth for total touches (2603), reflecting that all-action, box-to-box style despite generally playing deeper.
But perhaps the best example of his verticality and Poch-ready style is that Caicedo was second (again behind Rodri) for possession wins leading to a team shot, with 18, as revealed by Opta’s The Analyst.
Within moments of implausibly pinching the ball, Caicedo can weave, dart and pass to set his team up for a counter-punch.
Where Caicedo will fit in at Chelsea
Historically, Pochettino has mostly used a 4-2-3-1 formation, but against Liverpool he sprung a surprise by opting for a 3-5-2, albeit one that dropped back into something resembling a 4-2-3-1 when the visitors had possession.
Either way, the "double-pivot" has always been important to Pochettino and that looks set to continue with Caicedo in the team.
His destructive qualities should perfectly compliment Enzo Fernandez, allowing the Argentinian to play higher up the pitch in a box-to-box No 8 role, as we saw against Liverpool.
Caicedo’s ability to twist away from his marker and play those threaded passes to team-mates makes him similar to Fernandez and a natural partner in that respect. But more interestingly Caicedo’s tackling and intercepting should release Fernandez – the more creative player – to feed team-mates in the final third.
The Ecuador international also has the stamina and positional versatility to fill in across multiple positions, and indeed Pochettino likes his players to rotate with one another.
At times we will see Caicedo operate like a No 8 from within that double-pivot. At others he will shuffle across to cover Ben Chilwell as the Chelsea left-back flies forward. Attacking full-backs have always been central to Pochettino’s tactics.
Every way you look at it, Caicedo is a brilliant signing. As a modern No 6 in the mould of Kante, and with experience playing in a Pochettino-esque double-pivot at Brighton, Chelsea could not have signed a more perfect player to kickstart the new era.
