Thanks to Maresca: Chelsea star ‘among the three best players in the world’

Chelsea star Moises Caicedo is ‘among the three best players in the world’ in his position, according to Ecuador coach Sebastian Beccacece.

The 23-year-old joined the Blues in 2023 after a lengthy saga that almost saw Liverpool hijack the deal. Chelsea ultimately managed to secure Caicedo’s signature, with the Ecuador international joining for a then-British record fee of up to €134 million.

With Caicedo having missed large chunks of pre-season that summer, his first campaign at Stamford Bridge was one of acclimatisation. He did not immediately recapture the brilliant form he had shown at Brighton.

However, once Enzo Maresca took over from Mauricio Pochettino, Caicedo began to blossom. He quickly established himself as one of the most important players in the side in his second season and is now virtually undroppable.

Caicedo is one of the first names on the team sheet at Chelsea, and the Blues are planning to reward him with an improved contract. Talks over fresh terms are set to ramp up shortly despite the fact that his current deal still runs until 2031.

Caicedo among the top three midfielders in the world

Caicedo is now widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and, as such, also in the world. As much has now been confirmed by his national team boss Sebastian Beccacece, who has described Caicedo as one of the top three defensive midfielders in football.

“Caicedo always played as an eight or a ten, but with Maresca’s arrival at Chelsea, he started acting as an organising midfielder, in the number five role [No.6 in England],” the Ecuador head coach told TNT Sports Argentina.

“We had already pictured him there, and without that daily work in England, it would have been much harder to prepare him for it. Today, I’d say he is among the three best players in the world in that position.”

He also described how easy it is to motivate players to feature for their national team as they do it out of passion rather than for financial reasons. “At their clubs, football is their profession where they earn money and compete every day.

“Here, they come because it’s their dream to be here, and that makes things much easier for a national coach. There’s no need to convince or motivate them. They already bring that desire with them.”

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