"Caicedo is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League": Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino
Aug 25, 2023
London [UK], August 25 : Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has labelled their latest recruit Moises Caicedo as one of the "best midfielders in the Premier League" ahead of their clash against Luton Town on Saturday.
Caicedo came off the bench in Chelsea's 3-1 defeat to West Ham United but failed to impress in his debut. He ended up conceding a penalty to the hosts which ensured that the Blues suffered the first defeat of their season.
Even after failing to live up to the hype that was building around Caicedo and the amount that was associated with him. Pochettino still believes that the Ecuadorian has the qualities and will soon tune-up to become a fan favourite.
"I never worked with [N'Golo] Kante but he [Caicedo] is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League. He has some similar characteristics to Kante but Moises is still young and needs to work really hard to improve in different areas. But he has the potential to be one of the best," Pochettino told Sky Sports.
With Romeo Lavia and Mykhailo Mudryk continuing to recover from their injuries, Caicedo has emerged as a figure who could be named in the starting XI.
"Moi [Caicedo] is ready to start. Lavia, after we assessed him, I think he still needs a few weeks to be ready to be involved with the team. In his conditioning he’s working to try to catch his team-mates. For Romeo we need to wait a few weeks to be with the team, but with Moi we are ready," Pochettino said in the pre-match conference as quoted in a video of a pre match news conference released by the club.
When Pochettino was quizzed about the fitness of Carney Chukwuemeka and Mykhailo Mudryk, the Argentinian went on to reveal about their situation and said, "We will see with Carney. It is not as big an issue that would maybe need months, I think maybe it will be weeks,’ continued Pochettino. ‘I hope he can be back as soon as possible with the team again."
"For Mykhailo it’s a minor issue, I think maybe a few days, but he isn’t going to be available for tomorrow. We are disappointed because of the situation for him where he played 45 minutes against West Ham," Pochettino added.
