Roberto De Zerbi says Brighton are ready to move forward without Moises Caicedo, giving Chelsea fresh hope of landing the whizkid ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.
The club are very much interested in a deal for the impressive Caicedo – as they feel that they need to add another box-to-box midfielder to the squad to help ease the pressure on their midfield
The club had a £60million opening offer knocked back on Friday for the 21-year-old with Albion owner Tony Bloom not wanting to sell – but the Blues have moved back in with a reported offer of £70 million.
And now it seems that De Zerbi has opened the door to a possible deal after admitting that the club are looking to move forward without Caicedo – De Zerbi said: “Caicedo is a very, very good guy.
“I can understand him because when you are 21, and you receive the request of a big, big team that are playing in Europe, I can understand.
“I would like that he can finish the season with us but we are ready to go forward without him.
“I think we need some players in some positions.
“I spoke a lot of time with Tony (Bloom) he knows very well my opinion because we are a good team but we can improve also from the transfer market.
“We lost Trossard, if we lose also Caicedo it can be a problem for us. If we want to fight for Europe, or the maximum on the table.
“If we want to stay like this (at our current level), we can. But I don’t like.”