Moises Caicedo made a mistake going public with his desire to swap Brighton and Hove Albion for Premier League leaders Arsenal during the January transfer window, Ecuador team-mate Enner Valencia tells Marca90 on YouTube.
It wasn’t quite Peter Odemwingie levels of desperation. But, when Caicedo looks back on how the winter window turned out, he will probably realise that he went about things in the wrong way.
The 21-year-old posted a lengthy message on his Twitter page late last week, thanking Brighton for their support and expressing his desire to seize an opportunity at the Emirates Stadium with both hands.
The only problem was, Brighton had no intention of selling. The Seagulls rejected £60 and £70 million bids, holding out for closer to £90 million.
And, with Arsenal turning to the cheaper, more experienced Jorginho on deadline day, Caicedo would have been forgiven for feeling more than a little sheepish as he returned to training on February 1st.
Brighton refused to sell Moises Caicedo to Arsenal
“(On Sunday) I looked up Moises’ number and I was going to call him. I was ready to do it,” says Valencia, Ecuador’s legendary captain.
“But then I started to think and said; ‘No, I’m going to leave him alone’. Because there are times when you want to be calm, clear your mind and think things alone with your family.
“If Moises had talked to me before, I would have told him not publish what he published.
“We all want him to do very well for the kind of person that he is. Because of how hard-working he is. And because of the great player that we all know he is.”
According to The Athletic, it seems unlikely at this stage that Arsenal will renew their interest in Caicedo over the summer; West Ham talisman Declan Rice their number one off-season target.
“Something similar happened to me when I was at West Ham United (wanting) to go to Everton,” Valencia recalls. “They didn’t want to let me leave, so my agent had to go to England to help me leave.
“I think the best way is to talk to the club and not make it public. But he did it like that. Surely he spoke to someone, and they advised him…”
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