Liverpool set to race Brighton for Moises Caicedo's replacement

Liverpool and Brighton are set to race for Lille’s Carlos Baleba, with both clubs considering the player as one for the present as well as one which will develop at the astronomical rate that Moises Caicedo did.

Liverpool have spent several weeks working on their subsequent midfield signing, which many expected to be Southampton’s Romeo Lavia but somewhat blew their chances when they made a last-ditch move to sign former Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo.

Despite haggling over the pennies with Southampton over Romeo Lavia, the Reds shocked the country when they agreed an English record fee with Brighton for Moises Caicedo. The Ecuadorian ultimately joined Chelsea and now Romeo Lavia seems destined to follow the same path, with the Belgian feeling that he was 2nd choice for Jurgen Klopp.

However, in the void left behind by Caicedo’s departure, Brighton are said to be targeting Lille’s Carlos Baleba. The 19-year-old midfielder has only made 33 senior appearances for Lille and has scored just 1 goal whilst providing 2 assists. However, a defensive midfielder is used for much more than goal contributions.

The young Cameroonian is able to hold the ball brilliantly, fend off the pressure as well as navigate through tight spaces to launch his team up the field. The 19-year-old is also excellent at switching the play or launching the ball over the top of the defence for his strikers to hunt down.

Fabrizio Romano confirmed this morning that Brighton have already opened talks for the player and even sent a bid through, but the French club are searching for £25m to complete the deal.

From Liverpool’s perspective, Simon Jones has also confirmed today that Liverpool plan on cutting out the middle man and signing the player raw, rather than waiting for his value to jump sky-high over the next year or so.