Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo is the kind of player who will play well, yet you will often not notice it until you specifically hone in on him individually, and you will definitely not hear about it from pundits.
I don’t think he’s been incredible since he arrived from Brighton in the summer, and he certainly had a stumbling start to his career here whilst he found his feet and settled into a new team and under a new manager. But in the last chunk of games I think he has been consistently good and he has been doing his job very well, if going about his business very quietly.
The importance of his role is often overlooked. The amount of times that Caicedo has broken down attacks with a tackle or an interception is numerous each game. I’m always about the eye test as well as stats, and having looked at Caicedo’s game play recently, I have certainly seen big improvements and very encouraging signs that we have a top midfielder here.
I’ve always rated him and I was excited to sign him. I think the high fee has hindered everything this season for him, maybe not for his own confidence because I actually don’t think he lacks that, but maybe for the public eye and the media, who seem to want to bash him and Enzo Fernandez on the regular, purely because of their fees.
Caicedo didn’t make Chelsea spend that much money on him, he didn’t say that he is worth that much money. It’s not his fault. But I urge pundits and experts to simply watch his game, and you will then see the consistent unsung job that he is doing.
Does he still need to improve and get better? Absolutely, he does. I think he needs to drop the rash challenges slightly and make better decisions, and I also think his overall game can get better. But he’s young, so naturally he will develop and need to develop more.
And this is where I will compliment Mauricio Pochettino as well, because I like it when he says things like this about players and sets them challenges. I see these recent words from Poch on Caicedo as beneficial….
“He’s getting better and better. We expect more. The performance against Newcastle was good but we’re going to put more pressure on him to get better and improve every day.”
But I truly believe he has become an important player for us now and he is growing in stature. Once he improves more I don’t think he will struggle controlling games for us, which is what we now need to do more of in midfield.
The Leicester game emphasises just how quietly he goes about his business. Not one person was giving him a shout for a Man of the Match performance, yet his stats shown him to have a very good game and not just defensively.
Caicedo registered more chance creations (4), more successful passes into the final third (13), more successful duel battles (8/15) and suffered more fouls (4) than any other player for either Chelsea or Leicester on Sunday. That is quite incredible.
I actually think that when Romeo Lavia does come in (depending on the selection choices that the manager makes), Caicedo going a little further forward will also see more from him. I think he is good going forward as well, and can offer a lot there.
Overall, I am happy with Caicedo and I think he is now playing consistently well. He seems to be settling more very game and getting more and more comfortable in his role and at this club. I have no doubts we will look back at this signing to be a success in years to come, regardless of his fee.