Moises Caicedo in Celtic transfer miss as '£1m' Parkhead chance turns £115m Chelsea sliding doors moment

He's booked a transfer record journey this week - but Moises Caicedo could have been treading a different path had a former Celtic scout got their way.

The Ecuadorian midfielder has signed for Chelsea on a bumper eight-year contract that could rise to a British transfer record of £115m, surpassing Arsenal's splurge of £105m on Declan Rice earlier this summer. Caicedo was signed by Brighton last summer and his one season in the Premier League and World Cup involvement last summer has prompted Todd Boehly to spend big, but back in 2020, Celtic are claimed to have been in the race for a then-18-year-old midfielder for a fraction of the price.

It's suggested by the Daily Mail that 'a recommendation was sent back to Glasgow' over Caicedo and that an ex-talent spotter at the Premiership champions 'reckoned Celtic could land the next big thing for a fee of around £1m.' Back then, the now 21-year-old was at Independiente del Valle, and Neil Lennon sancionted plenty of moves that summer.

Albian Ajeti was picked up for £5m from West Ham, alongside deals Vasilis Barkas, David Turnbull, Shane Duffy and Diego Laxalt. Caicedo would join Brighton a year later and via a loan in Belgium with Beerschot, make himself a renowned star.

Graeme Souness, however, believes it's an gamble to be playing him and Enzo Fernandez together in the Stamford Bridge midfield, having also spent £106.8m on the Argentine alongside another major splurge on Romeo Lavia from Southampton. He wrote in his Daily Mail column: "In the last six months, we've seen Chelsea twice break the British transfer record – first for Enzo Fernandez and now Moises Caicedo.

"In both cases, they were gambles on potential. Gambles that these young men will reach the heights that the