Don’t blame Moises Caicedo, blame the culture of football
Speak to anyone at Brighton who has dealt with Moises Caicedo and they will tell you what a nice young man he is. Which is what makes the course of action taken by Caicedo in attempting to force through a move to Arsenal doubly disappointing.
Or to put it another way, the course of action Caicedo and his new agents have taken fuelled by the culture of modern-day football.
Caicedo’s new representatives announced his signing on Monday 23rd January. By Saturday 28th January, Caicedo was effectively on gardening leave until February 1st at the very earliest.
An impressive first six days in the job, on a par with Liz Truss managing to crash the UK economy within a month of becoming prime minister.
The fun and games started when Brighton rejected a £60 million offer from Arsenal for Caicedo on Friday morning. The Gunners were informed that Brighton have no intention of selling in January as Caicedo is an essential part of a team that is chasing a top five finish and glory in the FA Cup.
Despite knowing Tony Bloom’s stance and the fact the Albion chairman rarely loses in such situations, Caicedo responded by going straight for the nuclear option of publicly begging for a move on Friday night.
It was a gamble the equivalent of walking into the National Casino, heading straight to the roulette table and sticking everything on zero.
Such an approach had worked for Marc Cucurella and Leandro Trossard but both their circumstances were different to Caicedo’s.
Trossard had only 18 months left on his contract, and Brighton were open to selling Cucurella providing the right offer came in.
Caicedo in contrast is under contract until 2025 and the Albion have been clear they are not interested in a sale before the summer.
By posting on Instagram, Caicedo ignored both those aspects and tried to outmanoeuvre Bloom. Not the wisest idea.
The statement itself was strange for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it started with the word “Moises”, suggesting somebody else had written and then sent the text to Caicedo to put into the post rather than it being of the midfielder’s own doing.
Caicedo, his agents or whoever manages his Instagram account would not be the first to fall foul of such a mistake of course.
One of Twitter’s greatest football-related moments came in 2016 when Sunderland striker Victor Anichebe copied and pasted word for word “Can you tweet something like… Unbelievable support yesterday and great effort by the lads! Hard result to take! But we go again!”
Secondly, if Caicedo did write the post himself, then he managed to spell his hometown wrong. The statement refers to Caicedo having a poor upbringing in Santa Domingo, when it should be Santo Domingo.
Brighton responded to the statement by making Caicedo unavailable for the visit of Liverpool to the Amex in the FA Cup and telling him to stay away from training until the transfer window slams shut.
Rather than being on strike, Caicedo had been stood down from duty. All the power remained with Brighton and no story could be made about him refusing to play or train until he received a move.
Whilst his Albion teammates were busy beating Liverpool for the second time in 15 days on Sunday afternoon, Caicedo was sat somewhere twiddling his thumbs.
For a bloke who very clearly loves playing football, it must have been frustrating for him to miss out on such a memorable afternoon as Brighton wrote more history by eliminating the FA Cup holders and moving a step closer to Wembley.
Unless Arsenal, Chelsea or another club come up with a world-record bid for a midfielder too good for Brighton to turn down, Caicedo seems likely to be an Albion player until the summer.
He therefore has two options. He can either down tools over not getting a move, in which case he may well find himself spending the next five months training with the Under 21s.
Roberto De Zerbi has already shown with his handling of Trossard’s toy throwing from the pram that he has now problem banishing first team players whose attitudes let them down.
Or he can return to the Albion when invited back, knuckle down and help his team push for Europe. Just as Elliott Bennett did when Brighton said no to Norwich City in January 2011 before allowing him to move to Carrow Road once the League One title and promotion to the Championship were safely in the bag.
If or when Caicedo does return, then he will need the support of Brighton fans. In the aftermath of Bennett handing in his transfer request, his name was constantly sung by the Albion faithful who had travelled to Watford for an FA Cup fourth round tie a few days later.
To direct anger at Caicedo is to focus on the wrong party. In any case, a player who feels loved and wanted is more likely to perform to a higher level – and we all know how devastating Caicedo can be when he is on form.
It is agents and the culture of Premier League football which are the problem. In the case of Caicedo, Bloom and Brighton have stood up to it. More power to them.
