Moises Caicedo: Costly Chelsea signing blasted for ‘nightmare’ debut by Liverpool legend Carragher
Moises Caicedo dejected on his Chelsea debut
Moises Caicedo has come in for criticism after giving away a penalty on his debut for Chelsea following his British-record arrival at the club.
Caicedo fouled former Chelsea defender Emerson Palmieri in the box to gift West Ham a penalty in stoppage time of their Premier League clash on Sunday. West Ham were already winning at the time, but made sure of the three points when Lucas Paqueta converted from the spot.
Mauricio Pochettino had introduced Caicedo for his Chelsea debut just after the hour mark. At the time, West Ham were 2-1 up after goals by Nayef Aguerd and Michail Antonio either side of one from Chelsea’s Carney Chukwuemeka.
It ended 3-1, though, after the Paqueta penalty following Caicedo’s collision with Emerson.
On commentary for Sky Sports, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher said: “That man Caicedo has had a bit of a nightmare since he came on, you have to say.
“It’s a poor, lazy challenge. Emerson always knows he’ll get there before him. We all did watching it!
“He hasn’t started great since coming on.”
Pochettino went on to declare Caicedo’s foul as “a very negative impact” in an interview for Match of the Day, but added: “He was telling us he was ready, I think 30 minutes is good for him, many positive things and he is maybe disappointed but we need to move on and he will be a good player for us.”
Caicedo had seemed all set to join Carragher’s old club when they agreed a fee with his former employers at Brighton recently. However, the Ecuador international did not want to join Liverpool.
It prompted Chelsea to raise their own offer until they broke the British transfer record for the second time in 2023, after originally doing so for Enzo Fernandez in January.
There will be pressure on Caicedo because of the amount of money Chelsea have spent on him, so he will be hoping for a revival of fortunes in his next appearances.
Chelsea are next in action on Friday when they host Luton Town, with both sides looking for their first win of the new season.
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