‘Half the player’ – Paul Barber sends cheeky message to Arsenal after rumoured ‘£70m’ January bid for Brighton star

Arsenal’s rumoured ‘£70m’ transfer bid for Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Moisés Caicedo in the January window would have only bought the Gunners ‘half the player’, according to Seagulls’ chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The Ecuador international was the subject of intense transfer speculation during the winter window after some excellent performances during the first half of the 2022/23 Premier League campaign.

Albion reportedly turned down a £70m bid from top-of-the-table Arsenal near the end of the window, as well as a £55m offer from Chelsea earlier in January.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The 21-year-old committed his long-term future to Brighton on March 3, by agreeing a new contract that runs until 2027, with a club option for an extra year.

Arsenal’s rumoured ‘£70m’ transfer bid for Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Moisés Caicedo in the January window would have only bought the Gunners ‘half the player’, according to Seagulls’ chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber. Picture by Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesArsenal’s rumoured ‘£70m’ transfer bid for Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Moisés Caicedo in the January window would have only bought the Gunners ‘half the player’, according to Seagulls’ chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber. Picture by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Arsenal’s rumoured ‘£70m’ transfer bid for Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Moisés Caicedo in the January window would have only bought the Gunners ‘half the player’, according to Seagulls’ chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber. Picture by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

But rumours still abound that the young midfielder remains high on Arsenal's transfer priority list, and could be the subject of a huge offer in the summer.

When asked if Arsenal’s January bid came close to matching Albion’s valuation of Caicedo, Barber, appearing on The Beautiful Game podcast, said: “Only if they wanted half the player! All joking aside, we never provide numbers so it always amuses us when we see numbers in the media because they’ve not come from us.

“The owner [Tony Bloom] will always have an understanding of what his assets are worth, and of course that can vary.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“For us, in January, selling Moisés was not a good move because, first of all, he was one of our best players in the first half of the season.

“Secondly, we were in a great position in the league, we were still in the FA Cup, we still had a lot of football to play, and we want to try and achieve our best-ever finish in the Premier League.

“If we do achieve that, there’s a chance that we could qualify for European competition.

“The stakes for us in the second half of this season are higher than ever, and Moisés was a big part of that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“But he’s also a young player who’s still learning his game. He’s in a far away country from where he was born, therefore we have a responsibility to try and do the best for the player long-term, as well as in the short-term for us.

“We felt that was best served by keeping Moisés with us, trying to do the best we can this season, and then what will be in the future will be.

“Moisés is a top, top class player and he has the potential to be anything he wants to be, anywhere he wants to be.

“This isn’t going to be the one and only transfer window where Moisés is going to be a popular attraction for other clubs.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“When we sat down with him and talked about that, and once all of the heat of the window had gone out, we were able to agree a new contract with him, settle him back down, and as you’ve seen the past few games he’s beginning to get back to that level he was at in the first half of the season.

“And he’s such a lovely kid. He’s such a lovely person as well as a terrific footballer.

“We’re really happy that he’s settled back down and, as I said, his chance will come in the future to be whatever he wants to be. We’re all very, very confident that it will happen for him.”

The winter transfer saga involving Caicedo took many twists and turns before the window slammed shut on January 31.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The midfielder wrote an open letter on Twitter announcing his desire to leave the Seagulls on January 28.

Albion received no further offers for the Ecuadorian, and Caicedo was reintegrated back into the Albion squad after the window’s closure.

Barber revealed that Brighton had a duty of care to take the young midfielder ‘out of the spotlight’ amid the intense speculation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But the Seagulls CEO hinted that players’ agents may not be ‘the most independent judges’ when it comes to safeguarding their clients.

He said: “Sometimes you have to take charge of the situation for the young person. It’s very easy sometimes – because there’s so much profile for footballers, so much interest in their lives and what they’re doing, and in their careers – to forget that they’re 20, 21 years of age.

“You don’t have a lot of life experience [at that age], you need people around that can say, look, you know what, it’s probably best if you have a few days off. [It’ll] just take you out of the spotlight and take the heat away from you. Let the people around you who manage these situations do that.

“You relax, focus on having a break, and when the transfer window’s closed, [you come] back to training, back to playing, [and] focus again on your football.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s not easy sometimes if you’re 20, 21 years of age to see that it’s the best option at that time. You need someone to almost take charge of that.

“And, of course, agents are sometimes in the best place to advise in that situation and sometimes they’re not, because they’ve got, in many cases, a motivation or an interest in a transfer happening. They’re not always the most independent judges in that situation.

“But we all have to co-exist and work together to make these things work, and for Moisés we felt we took the right course of action and, as I said, he’s playing really well and we’re delighted.”