The midfielder could have been a key part of the impressive rebuilding job at Anfield but is instead struggling at Stamford Bridge
The day before Liverpool played Chelsea at the start of the season, it had already emerged that then-Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo had rejected the Reds in favour of the Blues. Jamie Redknapp was stunned.
"I'm obviously highly biased in this one,” the former Liverpool midfielder said on on August 13, "but this is astonishing for me! Normally, Liverpool would always, always win this one hands down. I get the attraction of Chelsea. It's a huge club. They've won so many things over the years. But I think in terms of the history of the clubs, I'm amazed.
"I just thought it was inevitable. I woke up as a Liverpool fan, very happy with that one. I thought he would look great in that red kit. I thought he would be the perfect signing for Liverpool."
Getty ImagesDouble blow for Liverpool
Following confirmation of Caicedo's move to Stamford Bridge for a British record £115 million ($145m), Liverpool responded by turning their attention back to Romeo Lavia, the Southampton starlet they had been pursuing all summer long. However, he ended up moving to west London too.
In the space of four days, Liverpool lost two transfer targets to Chelsea. Anfield icon Jamie Carragher called it "a joke" – and rival fans were unsurprisingly lining up to ridicule the Reds.
They're not laughing anymore, though. Liverpool aren't just riding high at the top of the Premier League going into Wednesday's return clash with Chelsea at Anfield, they're also revelling in the fact that missing out on Caicedo and Lavia proved a blessing in disguise.
AdvertisementGetty 'My god, we were lucky, eh?!'
Klopp even quipped last month: "We had a few strange things happen in the transfer market in the summer but now I can say, 'My god, were we lucky, eh?!'
"We didn't know that in the moment, to be honest, and it didn't feel like it in the moment. But I am really happy how things worked out.
"I had an extremely good feeling before we started pre-season with who we had already: Macca (Alexis Mac Allister) already in, and Szobo (Dominik Szoboszlai). But we obviously realised that other central defensive midfielders don't want to join Liverpool!
"But then we found (Wataru) Endo, an exceptional player, and we also viewed [the rejections] as a chance [to bring in] Ryan (Gravenberch)."
GettyLiverpool's amazing midfield overhaul
Klopp's glee is certainly understandable. Last summer's midfield overhaul has gone better than anyone could have possibly envisaged.
There may have been evidence that time was catching up with Fabinho and Jordan Henderson last season but to see both depart for Saudi Arabia during the same summer led to understandable concerns that Liverpool would struggle without such two important leaders, particularly when one considers that James Milner, another great stalwart and standard-bearer of the Klopp, had already left for Brighton.
However, with the signings of Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, Endo and Gravenberch, Liverpool have added some much-needed energy, versatility and goals to their midfield.
With Klopp's help, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott have also raised their respective games this season, while youngsters James McConell and Bobby Clark both look capable of making the grade the Anfield.
When one considers, too, that both Stefan Bajcetic and Thiago Alcantara are expected to return to action next month, Liverpool are suddenly flush with options in a department that looked threadbare last season.
Getty ImagesCaicedo criticism 'not fair'
Wednesday's opponents don't lack numbers themselves, of course. But the difference is that very few players are excelling and Caicedo's underwhelming displays are obviously attracting an awful lot of attention given his enormous transfer fee.
As former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley pointed out, the Ecuadorian really did look like a £100m player last season, so dynamic were his displays in Roberto De Zerbi's brilliant Brighton team. However, he's yet to come close to proving himself worth anything close to that figure this term.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino believes that the criticism Caicedo is copping is undeserved, arguing that there are mitigating factors in his poor performances.
"I think it's a process," the Argentine coach told reporters in December. "The temptation is to analyse and compare a player from one season to another when it's not fair.
"It's a different environment, different moment, how the situation is now. He arrived when we were already playing games in the Premier League, with no pre-season. It's an emotional situation that happened with him."