With ongoing speculation about whether or not Manchester United could finally strike a deal for Chelsea and England attacking midfielder Mason Mount, it is now being reported that the Red Devil’s are now looking at alternative options to strengthen the squad for Erik ten Hag’s second season in charge, and one of those options is apparently Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder Moises Caicedo.
The 21 year old Ecuadorian moved initially to Brighton back in the January transfer window of 2021 for a £4 million fee from Independiente, and having taken time to settle in at his new club, later that year he spent the first half of the 2021/22 campaign out with Belgian Division 1 side KFCO Beerschot-Wilrijk to gain further first team experience, and on his return, he did not really look back.
As we head towards the 2023/24 campaign, the 32 capped young international midfielder, now has 49 starting appearances, with four showings from the bench but he has only chipped in with two goals. With that said, his performances last season more than helped Brighton to secure European football next season and he more than established himself as a player in demand during this summer transfer window.
According to reports, United are obviously one of the clubs interested in his services, but it has been more recently claimed that we could potentially be in a three way battle for him with Chelsea and Arsenal also having a strong interest in him.
BBC reporter Simon Stone feels he would be an incredible improvement in our midfield as we look to improve further.
“As Casemiro proved himself to be far more than that in his debut season, Caicedo is someone who can go into the engine room of a Premier League midfield and get United moving forward in a way Fred and Scott McTominay tried and failed to do and Christian Eriksen patently can’t.”
There will be those who disagree with Stone’s summation there, but it does make a valid point on Caicedo being a Mount alternative.
“It is interesting United are looking at him as an alternative to Mount as the Chelsea man is clearly far more of a goalscoring threat and more elusive with the ball at his feet. However, if Caicedo did make the Old Trafford switch it would release Eriksen to move further forward, something many United fans feel that club should have been looking at in the first place.”
We will simply have to see what happens, there is plenty of time left yet for some twists and turns.
Image from: unsplash.com
