When dawn broke on Friday morning and the dust settled after a heart-pounding midnight auction, it seemed the deal was done: Moises Caicedo would sign for Liverpool, for a whopping £111 million.
The Brighton midfielder has been turning heads throughout the transfer window, with Chelsea long the likely front-runners for the talented 21-year-old’s signature.
But a lingering question mark remains over the player’s future, with the Blues looking in a stronger position than ever after Caicedo was rumored to join the Reds.
One thing is certain. If either club signs a deal with the player for that stratospheric amount, the Ecuadorian starlet will become the sixth most expensive player in history.
But where did the now British record signing come from? And who are the most important figures in his life? Here, Mail Sport shares details of Moises Caicedo’s rise and rise.
Moises Caicedo becomes the sixth most expensive player of all time when he signs for Liverpool after a fierce bidding war
The midfielder’s meteoric rise has been thanks to the support of his girlfriend Paola Salazar (left) and his parents (pictured in Brighton)
The £111 million player has a close and emotional bond with his family (pictured in 2017)
A hard scrabble childhood – and a lost turnout
Caicedo hails from the Mujer Trabadora neighborhood of Santo Domingo, a bustling city in the foothills of the Andes, where he first started playing at the age of five. Resources have been hard to come by in the neighborhood, which still suffers from gang problems and where a number of families live below the poverty line. From the timesCaicedo and his teammates often scored through goals marked by rocks or other makeweights, and not all kids always had shoes.
But at the age of 13, the player made the step up and joined a local academy affiliated with an amateur team called Jaipadida. Professional football came along in the form of an offer from Espoli, but that fell through after the side were relegated from – and several of Caicedo’s trials with other teams were unsuccessful before he was sent to Independiente del Valle.
The rise of Caicedo in the capital Quito, where Independiente is located, was far from lightning fast. A few months into his time at the club, he suffered a torn ACL which saw him sidelined for 10 months at the age of 16. But as he recovered, his form got stronger and stronger, and less than two years later he made his senior team debut.
Still playing for the club’s youth team, he won the 2020 Copa Libertadores Under-20 with the side, again in a string of bright spots that first caught the attention of Brighton’s scouts. His teammates dubbed him ‘the Octopus’ for his dazzling skills in clearing the ball off his opponents, and Caicedo himself – a childhood Man United fan – compared his style to that of Paul Pogba.
The player joined Independiente del Valle’s academy in 2016 and went on to play for both their youth side – with whom he won the U20 Copa Libertadores – and the senior team.
Caicedo played in an overwhelming Copa Libertadores against Brazil’s Flamengo in 2020, scoring one of their five goals
That year, the then 18-year-old received his first call-up to the Ecuadorian national team
Paying back the communities that raised him
Brighton were not the only club looking to sign the player, but signing him in 2021 won the club a rare talent. After a first season on loan at top Belgian club Beerschot, Caicedo flourished at the south coast club with the appointment of De Zerbi – but even the signing of a new super contract in February couldn’t stop Caicedo’s boundless ambition.
But with his groundbreaking move to Liverpool comes a huge windfall for not one, but two clubs: Brighton, who signed the midfielder for a relatively paltry £4.5 million, and Independiente.
The Ecuadorian club retained 20 per cent of his training rights and is expected to receive more than £20 million upon confirmation of his signing. Michel Deller, the owner of the club, told the radio program La Red: “We want to invest in a high-quality center in Santo Domingo, which will be called Moisés Caicedo, that money is important and it will be used for our boys. ‘.
El Nino Moi
The youngest of ten siblings, Caicedo was – and remains – very close to his family. When he first moved to Independiente in the capital, he was reportedly plagued with homesickness, which some coaches believed would hamper his development.
That said one of his former youth coaches at Independiente, Miguel Angel Ramirez Sky Sports about an incident where Caicedo – who was particularly quiet and shy upon arrival at his first club – couldn’t hide his emotions when he was denied the chance to see his family.
Caicedo has a particularly close relationship with his mother Carmen and cherishes his roots in the Mujures Trabadora neighborhood of Santo Domingo.
The player regularly receives his family in the UK (pictured left) and also often visits Ecuador
“One day, while he was injured, he asked permission to go home and celebrate his birthday,” Ramirez said.
“I refused and said, ‘Moises, you are injured. You have to recover and you have to come back as soon as possible. There are no days off for professional players. You have to understand that you are not in the race right now.’ academy anymore. If you go to a big club, you can’t ask your club, can I please have a day off to celebrate my birthday with my family? Because they won’t give it to you! “
Ramirez recalls the player “crying like a baby” as he continued to train at the gym.
Caicedo’s parents urged their son to remain steadfast and continue to support him intensively. And he, in turn, is just as motivated by them – his first post on Instagram is a photo of the midfielder, his father and his mother, and the caption: ‘Parents, one day you will be proud of me, I promise ‘.
The player regularly flies his family – especially his mother, Carmen – to England to keep in close contact with them, traveling back to Santo Domingo. Caicedo’s roots in his hometown are strong: he has bought a new house for his family, visits regularly, and reportedly wants to invest in the football facilities, and has given his name to the school.
On a recent visit, he took part in a local tournament, this time for Caicedo FC, a team made up of his extended family members. As expected, the player scored a goal – and helped win the tournament for the talented family.
The 21-year-old first met his girlfriend Paola as a teenager when he played for Independiente
Little is known about Salazar, but she is likely to follow the player to Liverpool after his move
The couple recently called in on Salazar’s 22nd birthday with a special meal, roses, and champagne
Caicedo’s closeness to his family — coupled with his lost rise — led to the rise of the player’s affectionate nickname in Ecuador, El Niño Moi, or “The Kid Moi.”
Teen darlings
But Caicedo will not just move to new pastures. Instead, the midfielder will be joined by his girlfriend of five years, Paola Salazar.
The 22-year-old first met Caicedo as teenagers during the player’s time at Independiente, with the pair first memorializing their relationship on the player’s Instagram in the summer of 2019.
Little is known about Salazar, who keeps a low profile in the UK, but the couple celebrated her 22nd birthday together with champagne and red roses at a luxury London restaurant, and a trip to Harvey Nichols.
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