Arsenal’s new bid which is worth up to £ 70 million to sign Brighton star Moises Caicedo has been rejected following the Gunners’ initial £60 million offer.
Brighton have been adamant as they do not want to sell the 21-year-old Ecuadorian midfielder despite his will to leave and Arsenal’s readiness to sign him.
The Gunners have already made an open offer of £60 million bid for Caicedo which was earlier rejected with the intent of keeping the prodigy Brighton star, Moises Caicedo.
Moreover, the north London club have seen an improved bid for the Ecuador star Moises Caicedo worth up to £70million rejected.
Having failed with their initial offer of £60million on Friday, the Gunners then tabled a new offer worth £65m plus a further £5m in add-ons.
Prior to Gunners new offer, the Seagulls were adamant they did not want to sell the 21-year-old star and their stance has not changed.
However, with just less than 48 hours before the January transfer window closes, Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta will be hoping to secure some last-minute deals and hope the two clubs reach an agreement for the signing Moises Caicedo.
Former Guardiola’s assistant, Mikel Arteta has revealed his motives to recruit a new midfielder before the January transfer window elapses.
The Arsenal boss, Arteta made his intention of signing a new midfielder with emphasis on the injury cases following Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey’s injuries.
However, being conscious of Brighton owner Tony Bloom as a tough negotiator, having exacted fees of £50m from Arsenal for Ben White and £62m from Chelsea for Marc Cucurella, the transfer of the Ecuador international, Moises Caicedo could prove too expensive for Arsenal with less than 42 hours remaining of the winter window.
Meanwhile, Arsenal had a £60million bid rejected last week Friday for the 21-year-old Ecuador star with Albion owner Tony Bloom not wanting to let him off.
According to the Sun report, Arsenal has received a potential boost in their quest to bring in Caicedo to the Emirates club.
Report has it that, the Gunners will need to pay close to £90m to sign the Albion star Caicedo despite the 21-year-old’s defiant action on social media.
Following the news that Brighton had rejected Arsenal’s initial bid, Caicedo released a statement on his Instagram page revealing his intentions to leave the Seagulls.
Caicedo put in a transfer request to force his departure from the club and missed Sunday’s 2-1 FA Cup victory against out-of-form Liverpool, having been told to stay at home until after the window closes.
The 21-year-old Ecuadorian wrote: “I am proud to be able to bring in a record transfer fee for Brighton which would allow them to reinvest and help the club continue to be successful.
“The fans will always be in my heart so I hope they understand why I want to take this magnificent opportunity.”
However, despite his manager wanting him to stay, his comments following the fourth-round victory implied a transfer deal could happen, with Arsenal ready to bid again.
And while De Zerbi does not want the 21-year-old Ecuador midfielder to leave, the Albion boss will need to replace him if he eventually leaves, having sold Leandro Trossard to Arsenal earlier this month.
The Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi has admitted that the Seagulls are “ready to go forward” without Moises Caicedo.
Speaking after the win against Liverpool, he said: “It’s already difficult for me to be a coach. To be a coach and chairman is too much.”
De Zerbi added: “It’s already difficult for me to be a coach. To be a coach and a chairman would be too difficult but [Moises] Caicedo is a very, very good guy.
“I can understand because when you are 21 and you receive a request from a big, big team that is playing in Europe, I can understand.”
“I would like for him to finish the season with us but we are ready to go forward without him. I think I need some players in some positions. I spoke a lot of times with Tony [Bloom], he knows my opinion very well, because we are a good team but we can improve also from the transfer market window.”
The north London outfit have already made two successful signings this January, bringing in Belgium winger Leandro Trossard from Brighton, as well as Polish center-half Jakub Kiwior from Serie A side Spezia.
It’s expected that the Gunners would revisit Moises Caicedo’s transfer bid with Brighton in the wee hours remaining before the window closes or forget about him if Brighton refuses to compromise their stance despite Caicedo’s interest to move to the Emirate club.
