Mauricio Pochettino has backed Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo to become ‘one of the best midfielders in the Premier League’.
Caicedo signed for Chelsea from Brighton in a British transfer record deal worth up to £115m in the summer, but the 22-year-old has had a mixed start to his career at Stamford Bridge.
The Ecuador international has shown promising signs in recent performances, however, ahead of facing Liverpool in the Premier League on Wednesday night.
Liverpool also bid for Caicedo in the summer and Pochettino believes Chelsea will benefit from winning a memorable transfer battle, with the midfielder possessing the potential to be one of the Premier League’s best.
“It’s not only Chelsea but Liverpool also believed that he can be one of the best midfielders in the future,” Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference.
“But after that it’s about adaptation. He didn’t do a pre-season, he had some problems when he was travelling for international duty, there are so many things which delayed the adaptation to the team and to the club.
“The circumstances maybe delayed it a little bit for him to perform, but I think there’s no doubt he has the profile to be one of the best midfielders in the Premier League. He was already showing what he’s capable of doing at Brighton.
“If you ask me or any of the coaches here, always we are talking about improving. Always we demand more and more, not only from him but from all the players in the whole squad. He still can improve a lot.
“The last few performances we feel like we are doing well as a team. We are happy in the way that we are working but I think still we are far away from the expectations that we created at the beginning of the season.”
