Summary Despite a disappointing debut, Chelsea players and staff are rallying around Moises Caicedo to boost his confidence. A video from training shows Caicedo's impressive skills and work rate, suggesting his potential. Caicedo played a role in convincing Romeo Lavia to join Chelsea, highlighting his influence off the pitch already.
Midfielder Moises Caicedo has shown his quality in an impressive bit of footage taken from a training session with Chelsea this week, while he also helped land Romeo Lavia with his influence off the pitch.
What's the latest on Moises Caicedo and Chelsea?
The Ecuadorian arrived at Stamford Bridge recently after the Blues paid a British-record fee of £115m to sign him from Premier League rivals Brighton and Hove Albion.
However, things for Caicedo have not gone so well at the very start of his eight-year contract. After all, he made his debut against West Ham United on the weekend but endured a cameo to forget.
Indeed, the 21-year-old came off the bench but gave away a penalty in the dying embers of the game as Chelsea lost 3-1 to the Hammers, even though they were playing against ten men after Nayef Aguerd's second-half red card.
Since then, however, it appears as though Mauricio Pochettino's men are doing their best to rally around Caicedo and make sure he doesn't lose any confidence ahead of the club's next game – at home against Luton Town on Friday night.
First, a number of first-team players sent supportive messages to the midfielder on Instagram after he admitted it wasn’t the debut that he "expected". Captain Recce James said: "Together as one." While Enzo Fernandez added: "This is not how it starts, but how it ends. Let's go all out brother! We will all work together."
Adding to this, Chelsea's Twitter admin has shared one fine moment from training this week in which Caicedo shows some of his best attributes – as you can see below.
Running one-on-one up against 20-year-old forward Mason Burstow, the £105m man first shows great skill with the ball at his feet as he twists and turns at rapid speed before blasting it into the back of the net with his weaker left foot.
And then, as the ball is quickly put back into play, Caicedo pounces upon Burstow to quickly regain possession and score yet again all in one swift motion.
Is Caicedo any good?
While Caicedo is yet to make a great impact on the pitch in a game – and so the jury is still out on whether or not he is any good – he is clearly impressing in training. What's more, it also appears he is helping the club off the pitch too.
Indeed, as per a report in The Athletic, the young midfielder played a key role in Chelsea's £58m move for Lavia as the former Southampton man weighed up a move between the Blues and Liverpool.
Read the latest Chelsea transfer news HERE…
The article explains: "Ironically, Caicedo played a role in persuading the Belgian to join. With Chelsea already in the process of discussing terms with Southampton, Caicedo messaged Lavia making it clear how much he wanted them to play together."
On top of that, Todd Boelhy and co also then used the Caicedo’s purchase as part of their pitch, arguing that his arrival from Brighton shows just how ambitious their project is – as opposed to Liverpool who couldn't pull off a deal for either player in the end.
It seems then, the 21-year-old is already showing his worth to the club – even if it's in a way that might not have been anticipated.
