Had Mikel Arteta got his wish, Arsenal would have been lining up at Stamford Bridge on Sunday with Moises Caicedo in their side as opposed to coming up against him.
Arsenal were tracking the midfielder when he was at Brighton and before his £115million move to Chelsea last year.
Chelsea’s bid blew Arsenal out of the water, who failed with two offers during the January transfer window before that. The second of those was worth £70m, but Brighton rejected it and insisted Caicedo was not for sale.
The midfielder posted an open letter on social media, pleading for Brighton to let him go, but the Seagulls held firm and were rewarded with a British record fee in the summer.
Arsenal swooped for West Ham captain Declan Rice, coughing up £105m, however in a dream scenario they would have signed the England star and Caicedo.
That was the noise coming out of the club in January 2023, when they were working on a deal for Caicedo. The hope was they could sign Caicedo then and add Rice in the summer, creating a powerful midfield partnership.
In the end, the numbers involved made that impossible. Arsenal’s opening bid for Rice was around £90m, while their first offer for Caicedo was about £60m. Both players eventually went for north of £100m.
It is not hard to see why Arteta was keen on the idea of partnering Caicedo and Rice, even if pulling off both deals was always going to be difficult.
Arsenal have transformed into a physical team under Arteta and a pairing of Caicedo and Rice, alongside Martin Odegaard, would have tied in with that evolution.
Caicedo struggled at times during his debut season at Chelsea, but he is now flourishing into the player Arsenal and other rival clubs, such as Liverpool, thought he could be.
The 23-year-old is currently ranked No1 in the Premier League this season for tackles won. He is second for duels won and third when it comes to interceptions.
Caicedo has also shown he has talent on the ball, too. No Chelsea player - not even Cole Palmer - has completed more successful passes in the final third in Premier League games this season.
Even during his struggles last season, Caicedo beat Rice when it came to total tackles, duels won and ball recoveries. Rice came out on top when it came to forward passes and interceptions, which is perhaps a consequence of Arteta moving him up the pitch into a No8 position.
Rice excelled in an advanced role during the second half of last season and it is easy to see how Caicedo could have slotted in behind him at the base of Arsenal’s midfield.
The No6 position is an area Arsenal need to inject youth into going forward, with both Jorginho and Thomas Partey over 30.
Partey, in fairness, has impressed this season. The Ghana international has managed to shake off the injury problems that have plagued him in the past and he is arguably in the best form of his Arsenal career.
A showdown with Caicedo on Sunday, however, will be a true test of that.
