De Zerbi admits Brighton are ‘ready to go forward’ without Arsenal-linked Caicedo

Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi claims his team are “ready to go forward” without Ecuadorian midfielder

but conceded that it would be hard for them to fight for European places.

Caicedo, who was left out of Brighton’s squad in their clash against Liverpool today, has already handed in a transfer request and released a post on social media, asking the club to let him go.

Following Brighton’s dramatic late 2-1 victory against Liverpool in the FA Cup, De Zerbi spoke to the press about the situation, saying: “

Caicedo is a very good guy. I can understand him, because when you are 21 and you receive a request from a big team playing in European competition, I can understand. I would like him to finish the season with us, but we’re ready to go forward without him. We need some players in some positions.

"I’ve spoken lots of times with Tony (owner-chairman Tony Bloom). He knows very well my opinion, because we are a good team but we can improve also from the transfer window. We lost Trossard (to Arsenal). If we lose also Caicedo, it can be a problem for us if we want to fight for Europe and the best position in the table. If we want to stay like this, we can stay but I don’t like (it).”

Chelsea were the first club to seriously bid for the Ecuadorian which was rejected by Brighton out of hand. Arsenal then bid for £60m, which was also rejected as it was significantly lower than Brighton’s £90m price tag for Caicedo. For now,

have ordered Caicedo to stay at home until the window closes but the way things are looking, the saga is set to continue until the deadline day arrives.

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