Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
Arsenal actually wanted to sign ‘unbelievable’ Chelsea star and use him next to Declan Rice
Arsenal had a plan to pair Declan Rice with another big player in their midfield in 2023.
The Gunners’ recruitment has been incredible over the last few years. Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar have done a phenomenꩲal job, even though they haven’t always got the players they wanted.
Arsenal had a very exciting plan for the✃ir midfield in 2023, but that, sadly for them, did not materialise. Journalist Charles Watts has shared what really𒈔 happened.
Arsenal had a Moises Caicedo plan before they signed Declan Rice
Arsenal were on the market for a new midfielder almost a year before they signed Declan Rice.
The Gunners tried really hard to get a miꦐdfielder in the summer of 2022, but no move materialised. Then, they signed Jorginho from Chelsea in the following Jan🅷uary.
Before that happened, Mikel𝔉 Arteta had formu💙lated a big plan to take Arsenal to a whole new level.
The North Londoners wanted to sign Moises Caicedo, who was still at Brighton and Hove Albion in January 2023. They tabled a few bids too to sign the ‘‘ midfielder, but they couldn’t convin🍎ce the Seagulls to let him go.
Arsenal signed Rice six months later, in the same window in which Chelsea sealed a deal for Caicedo for a British re🌌cord fee of £115 million ().
Charles Watts has now revealed that Rice wa💙sn’t a big-money alternative to Caicedo – Arteta’s original plan was to sign both players and pair them up in the middle of Arsenal’s midfieꦬld.
That, unf🅠or🦩tunately for them, proved to be impossible in the end.
Watts told : “Caicedo was a player they really wanted and were wi🗹lling to pay big money for.
“But they weren’t going to pay what Brighton were asking for so they walked away after seeing multiple bids rejected in Janua🧔ry 2023.
“Obviously, they then went and signed Declan Rice the following summer, but as far as I’m aware they still would have gone for the West Ham captain even if they had𝓡 managed to get Caicedo in the summer.
“The plan was always to try and get both o꧒f them, not one.”
READ MORE: Moises Caicedo’s ag⛄ent o♓n what Arsenal did before he joined Chelsea
How we think Moises Caicedo would’ve fared at Arsenal
Moises Caicedo has struggled at Chelsea.
The Ecuador internat📖ional was expected by many to hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge, but his performances haven’t even come close to justifying his mammoth price tag.
If Caicedo had joined Arsenal instead, we think he would’ve become a star.
The Gunners are a much more settled side than Chelsea are and Caicedo would’ve had teamma𓂃tes whose quality is much higher than what it is now.
To add to that💟, the midfielder would’ve had Mikel Arteta as his manager, who has brought out the best in almost every player in Arsenal’s 🌃current squad.
Caice🍷do will never admit it, but we think even he’d privately agree that he would’ve fared much better at Arsenal thꦦan he has done at Chelsea so far.