Moises Caicedo speaks out after 'bad tackle' on Gabriel Martinelli
Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo has admitted regret over the challenge that forced Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli to be substituted only 20 minutes into Sunday's meeting.
The Seagulls eventually went on to win 3-0, putting perhaps one of the final nails in Arsenal's Premier League title hopes. But the poor tackle from Caicedo and Martinelli was also a major talking point.
Shortly before, Martinelli had been guilty of an reckless aerial challenge with Brighton star Kaoru Mitoma. The Arsenal winger was careless in the manner in which he ran into Mitoma and left the Japan international flat out on the turf.
Caicedo, a transfer target for Arsenal both back in January and moving forward, was the first on the scene to remonstrate with referee Andy Madley about Martinelli's challenge. However, the official sided with Martinelli, who wasn't even cautioned, despite the dangerous nature of it.
Not long afterwards, Caicedo seemed to take the law into his own hands by dishing out some revenge. When Martinelli received the ball, he was pursued by the Ecuadorian and cut down from behind. That was followed by a subtle high-five between Caicedo and Mitoma, as if to confirm that there was an element of purpose about the aggressive retribution.
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However, with time, Caicedo appears to have regretted his actions and, although short of an apology, he has since posted on social media that he would do it differently given a second opportunity.
"If I could turn back time I wouldn't have made that bad tackle," he said.
Club doctor Gary O'Driscoll allayed fears that it was a season-ending injury: "He's a bit sore but he should be okay. I think he should be back before the end of the season."
Will Brighton sell Moises Caicedo this summer?
Brighton refused to sell Caicedo in January, despite receiving multiple bids from Arsenal and Chelsea. That prompted the player to post what was tantamount to a transfer request on social media, imploring the Seagulls to let him go. But they flat out refused and it ended up being not long before Caicedo had committed his future to the club with a new contract until at least 2027.
That being said, 90min was recently able to report that Brighton would be willing to sell Caicedo this summer. Their valuation for the 21-year-old has to be met, though. That number is around £80m. The bids for the player during January did not exceed £70m.
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On this week's edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss all the latest transfer news. On the agenda: Aurelien Tchouameni, Lionel Messi, Moises Caicedo, Rafael Leao, Kim min-Jae, David de Gea, Dusan Vlahovic and more.
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