Enzo Maresca now has £200m player as Moises Caicedo agreement reached

Moises Caicedo celebrates putting Chelsea ahead against Liverpool (Image: Chris Lee - Chelsea FC)

Frank Leboeuf believes Moises Caicedo is now worth upwards of £200million if Chelsea were to ever consider selling their prized midfielder.

The 23-year-old has been absolutely outstanding for the Blues at the beginning of the 2025/26 campaign and is now receiving plaudits from all directions for his performance levels. Since the second half of Mauricio Pochettino 's season in charge at Stamford Bridge, Caicedo has been exceptional - and there are no signs of that stopping anytime soon.

The Ecuador international has pretty much everything to his game - and is even making a habit of scoring in the early stages of the season. Saturday evening's thunderbolt against Liverpool just 14 minutes into the game was Caicedo's third goal of the campaign.

When Chelsea broke what was at the time a British transfer record for Caicedo in 2023, paying Brighton £115million, there were many sceptics. The levels the South American has discovered during his time in west London, though, mean that nowadays he would be worth double that, according to former Chelsea defender Leboeuf.

"Remember the first season, they paid £100million and we were wondering, is he worth it? But now he is worth more than that, double that," Leboeuf said on ESPN .

"Because that guy gives you such business in the middle of the park, that for the others, it makes things simpler. It's easier. We go back to the previous generation of defensive midfielder, Wisey [Dennis Wise], Claude Makelele and N'Golo Kante, those fantastic players that give their lives every game.

"We used to call them water carriers, they were in the shade of the others. They were the bad people destroying everything. David Batty and the fantastic Roy Keane.

"But those players are completely essential to a team and they are the fixed wall to make sure the team is going to work and Caicedo is showing that to the world. What we saw against Liverpool, it was absolutely exceptional."

Gary Neville agrees with Leboeuf about Caicedo's performance levels , with the former Manchester United and England defender insisting the Ecuadorian is comfortably the best midfielder in the Premier League at this moment in time. Speaking on his podcast, Neville said : "I am breathing before I say this because I'm thinking of players like Declan Rice and others, but I think he [Caicedo] is the best midfielder in the league at the moment and I am comfortable with that.

"Sitting here now, going into October 2025, I think we can say Caicedo is the best midfielder in the league."

Paul Scholes , meanwhile, has doubled down on his take that Caicedo is not the best midfielder in the league. The former Manchester United star, speaking on The Overlap , has chosen Sandro Tonali for that crown: "Right now? That's tough. I still don't class Moises Caicedo as an all-round midfield player.

"I know he scored a great goal and was brilliant the other day. I got some stick last year after having a go at him and I almost thought about taking that back because he was brilliant in the Club World Cup.

"I just prefer the controlling type of midfield players who play with a bit more style and can score goals a bit more often than Caicedo. It was a brilliant goal against Liverpool but you wouldn't be surprised if he didn't do that again for another 18 months, would you?

"He's one of the best at what he does which is breaking up the play, he's brilliant at that. But I prefer the other types.

"Alexis Mac Allister was absolutely brilliant last season, he controlled a lot of games and I think Liverpool are missing that at the moment. I love Sandro Tonali as well. He's been brilliant. Very good. I would probably choose Tonali at this point."