The Reds were linked with a move for the Ecuadorian international in the January transfer window, but were priced out of a move when the club demanded a fee over £80m. Caicedo’s agent also revealed after the days after the window that he was desperate to leave in January.
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Caicedo, 21, has starred for Brighton under Roberto De Zerbi and has been an integral part of their push for European football this season but his form has attracted the attention of some English biggest clubs.
Brighton’s CEO, Paul Barber, spoke to The Beautiful Game podcast to explain that the former Independiente del Valle player has no release clause and won’t leave for a set price.
“No, we don’t operate like that and we try and avoid things like that because they become such a point of discussion and negotiation that you spend hours and hours on something that may not happen or if it does happen it may not be the right price at the right time,” he said.
“So we try and avoid things like that. We know other clubs use them, that’s fine, but it’s not something we tend to get involved with.”
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Brighton have earned strong praise from the footballing world for their football business accumen and forward-planning which has allowed them to profit strongly off the likes of Ben White, Marc Cucurella, Yves Bissouma and Leandro Trossard.
Allowing those players to leave may have been detrimental, as seen with Southampton over the years, but their identification of talent has been second-to-none and they even signed Caicedo for a low fee of £4.5m back in early 2021.
Caicedo has started 23 out of 24 of his Premier League apperances this season and has the third most tackles in the league this season with 70 and he also ranks in the 89th percentile for interceptions for all midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues as well.