Brighton & Hove Albion have made it clear to Moises Caicedo that he will not be sold unless their £100m valuation of him is met, sources have confirmed to 90min.
The Ecuador international is continuing to be courted by Chelsea, who have already seen two bids - the first worth £70m and the second worth £80m - knocked back by the Seagulls.
90min understands that Caicedo has confirmed his desire to leave Brighton on several occasions this summer. The club are keen to avoid him making his agitations public and so have decided to communicate why they are not entertaining Chelsea's most recent offers.
Brighton value Caicedo at a similar amount to Declan Rice, who recently signed for Arsenal from West Ham United for a British-record £105m transfer fee, and this has been explained to the player and his representatives.
Chelsea remain undeterred in their pursuit of Caicedo and will continue their advances. They have already agreed a deal to sign Robert Sanchez from Brighton this window and the clubs are on good terms despite their ongoing grievances over Caicedo and Levi Colwill, who put pen to paper on a new six-year contract at Stamford Bridge this week.
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When quizzed about Caicedo ahead of their pre-season friendly with Chelsea in the United States last month, Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi insisted the midfielder is going nowhere anytime soon and poked fun at the Blues' inability to qualify for Europe.
"It's a clear situation at the moment. [Caicedo] stays with us until my owner changes his mind," De Zerbi said.
"I don't know what can happen in the future, but if Moises leaves we have to find the right player because it's difficult to replace a player as good as Moises. We have to substitute him with a great player because this year we play in the Europa League unlike Chelsea."
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Toby Cudworth is joined by Graeme Bailey to discuss the next steps in Bayern Munich's Harry Kane hunt, Brighton rejecting another Chelsea bid for Moises Caicedo, who has had the most impressive transfer window so far & more!
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This article was originally published on 90min as Brighton inform Moises Caicedo of transfer decision amid ongoing Chelsea interest.
