Brighton CEO Paul Barber has expressed his surprise at Moises Caicedo rejecting Liverpool for Chelsea.
The Anfield giants had secured a £111million deal to sign the midfielder last week before a shock U-turn saw Caicedo snub Liverpool and make clear his desire to sign for Chelsea.
On Monday night, the Blues announced their new signing at a fee of £115m having spent weeks negotiating with Brighton.
Barber has suggested that Caicedo’s camp has always desired a move to London, having pushed to sign for Arsenal in January.
“Liverpool’s a fantastic football club,” he told talkSPORT. “For any footballer to have the chance to play at Liverpool, you’d imagine that they’d be running up the M6 but it wasn’t to be.
“Moises and his advisors decided for whatever reason that London was their preferred destination, and ultimately chelsea.
“Obviously that puts us in a slightly difficult position because we’ve negotiated a deal, we’d spent many days working with Liverpool. They couldn’t have done anymore, they were superb and professional throughout.
“But then it comes down to the player. At the point that it was clear he wasn’t going to Liverpool we have to go into a different mode - having negotiated a British record transfer, we have to do it again three days later.
“It was unusual to say the least, but we did it. We were working with Chelsea as soon as we realised Liverpool weren’t able to proceed and we had to protect our own interests; our player and his value. We’ve done that and Moises goes onto the next stage of his career.”
Chelsea announced the deal with a throwback image of Caicedo and his mother sat in the boot of a car with the Ecuadorian donning a Blues shirt.
Caicedo told the official club website: “I am so happy to join Chelsea! I am so excited to be here at this big club and I didn’t have to think twice when Chelsea called me, I just knew I wanted to sign for the club.
“It’s a dream come true to be here and I can’t wait to get started with the team.”
