The transfer world of top clubs and their central midfielders has been all sorts of odd this summer.
First, we probably need to say that while there were suggestions that some English clubs might be getting involved in the Jude Bellingham sweepstakes, reports have suggested that Real Madrid always had a pretty healthy advantage there.
So putting the boy from Birmingham aside, we’re now into what is essentially the final week of June and yet only one of the Premier League’s big seven (yes Newcastle, you are in the club now) have made an addition to their midfield areas with Liverpool moving very quickly for what now seems a very shrewd bit of business in securing Alexis Mac Allister.
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And speaking of the Magpies, they have gone totally off course and appear to have finally landed on Sandro Tonali after seemingly making an offer for as many Serie A midfielders no-one was really linking with a move as possible. An excellent signing indeed but it isn’t as if they have beaten out a domestic rival to this transfer. We’re putting Spurs to one side for the moment and instead focusing on two players, and four clubs.
Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. The players are of course Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo.
Lest we remind ourselves of the extremely aggressive flirting that was going on by Arsenal in the January transfer window. This led to Caicedo handing in a transfer request and Brighton in turn banning him from training.
And it wasn’t just Arsenal. United, who by our count appear to have made at least two or three attempts in the past to sign the Ecuadorian, were also reportedly very interested, as were Chelsea, although they were also trying to get World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez away from Benfica.
So when this summer came around I think it is fair to say that we expected more sagas and less tumbleweed.
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But the opposite has happened, Caicedo is playing a very distant second-fiddle to England international Rice, very much the star of the show at the moment.
And I’m not entirely sure why?
Rice is a fantastic footballer. Here is what former West Ham and England midfielder Joe Cole had to say on BT Sport ahead of the Europa Conference League semi-final against AZ Alkmaar.
West Ham United FC captain Declan Rice celebrates with the trophy after his side’s victory in the UEFA Europa Conference League Final 2022/23 match between ACF Fiorentina and West Ham United FC.
Image credit: Getty Images
“Declan Rice, we’ve waxed lyrical about him and rightly so. He’s an outstanding footballer.
“Everything good they do goes through him.
“He’s added to his game. What he did to Casemiro – he dominated the game [against Manchester United]. Any team in Europe would have him in their team.”
Another former England international, Owen Hargreaves, added that Rice “plays with swagger now, realises he can do anything.
“He has all the talents. An important captain.”
And here is Cole after the Hammers defeated Fiorentina to lift the Europa Conference League.
“Declan Rice is a special player, an absolutely special player, special character.
“And he stands on the shoulders now with Billy Bonds and Bobby Moore, and I can say that now and I know how good a player he is.
“I watched him as a young kid when I was coming back from the Tampa Bay Rowdies and they kindly let me train with the youth team.
I see this young spotty Herbert in midfield, running rings me around me and I was 36 and I thought ‘it’s time for me to hang them up’.
“I knew when I spoke to him – forget the playing ability and what he can do on the pitch – his personality, I knew he would become a leader.”
Extremely high praise from people who managed to get to the very top of the game.
And I don’t think anyone is doubting Rice’s ability here. He is calm in possession, extremely astute at reading play and has an underrated range of passing.
But not only is Caicedo three years younger, he might be better defensively, and his ceiling in that area of the game certainly seems a lot higher than Rice.
This season in the Premier League Caicedo made 100 tackles (2nd in the league) and 56 interceptions (joint-second) whilst Rice made 79 tackles (joint-ninth) and 62 interceptions (1st).
LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 09: Moises Caicedo of Brighton & Hove Albion tackles Reiss Nelson of Arsenal during the Carabao Cup Third Round match between Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion at Emirates Stadium on November 9, 2022 in London, England. (Photo
Image credit: Eurosport
This isn’t to definitively say that one is better than the other but more to point out how odd it is that three clubs all seem to think Caicedo isn’t worth prioritising.
Now some will argue that Rice offers more as a passer and in teams that have managers like Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta and Erik ten Hag, this is enough to be a distinguishing factor.
Except that Caicedo made more passes (2209 to 2083) and made more key passes (43 to 37). He was more accurate over a shorter distance as well, although Rice did have nearly twice as many more accurate long passes.
And there is an argument to be had that we have seen everything we will see from Rice. Yes, a more expansive manager might get more out of him, but he had a key role as a distributor for West Ham. The next highest number of passes made this season at West Ham after Rice’s 2083 is Lucas Paqueta with 1125.
Taking Caicedo out of the equation a total of six Brighton players had more passes than Paqueta. Yes, playing style comes into this, but given the way Roberto De Zerbi has taking English football by storm is there not an argument to be had that Caicedo is more prepared for what some of the league’s top managers will want from their midfielders?
If anything you could argue that perhaps Caicedo was held back in terms of what he can show on the ball by the likes of Mac Allister and Pascal Gross.
Some might say what about experience? Yes Caicedo has only been in England for two and a half years and he doesn’t have the same sort of European experience that Rice has but he has played (and scored) in a World Cup and he hasn’t exactly seemed overawed so far in the Premier League.
It might that in five years time we are talking about one of these players as elite and the other as slightly below that level but right here and right now it does really feel as if both have what it takes to be considered the best in the league (or even world) in their position.
So why are so many clubs only making one of the pair a priority?
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All stats courtesy of Whoscored
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