Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Moises Caicedo has reportedly informed Liverpool that he only wants to sign for Chelsea this summer.
After a drawn-out saga where the Blues appeared to be the only realistic destination for the Ecuador international, the past 24 hours have proven to be up there with the most dramatic in terms of transfers in Premier League history.
For a number of weeks, Chelsea have been refusing to meet Brighton's £100m demands, only to then see Liverpool emerge as genuine contenders for the 21-year-old after they sold Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.
During the early hours of Friday morning, Liverpool are said to have presented a proposal in the region of £111m to their Brighton counterparts, one which was accepted.
Manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed at a press conference, ironically ahead of a showdown with Chelsea on Sunday, that Liverpool had an agreement in place with Brighton.
The German, naturally, was optimistic that he was about to be provided with the boost that his midfield requires, with Liverpool prepared to break the British transfer record in order to secure Caicedo's signature.
However, soon after Klopp's comments to the media, it was widely alleged that Caicedo and his representatives had remained in London, where they have stayed this week in anticipation of a move to Chelsea.
A report then emerged that Chelsea, who had previously stalled over paying anything more than £90m for Caicedo, were now prepared to better Liverpool's offer.
While an official proposal is yet to be made, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano on Twitter has now reported that Caicedo has informed Liverpool that he will not be moving to Anfield.
The Merseyside giants are said to have been informed by Caicedo that he only wants to sign for Chelsea this month, honouring an agreement that was made over personal terms earlier in the summer.
Brighton had imposed a deadline of Thursday night, one which was adhered to by Liverpool, but it now appears that Chelsea will do what is necessary to conclude their search for the world-class midfielder that Mauricio Pochettino has been craving.
With Chelsea having FFP regulations to abide by, it is unclear how paying extra money for Caicedo will impact their efforts to secure deals for Southampton's Romeo Lavia and Leeds United's Tyler Adams.
Earlier this week, reports suggested that Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital had offered £48m for Lavia and had met the release clause, in the region of £20m, for Adams.
Liverpool have also been in the market for Lavia but, as was last reported, they had not committed to paying over £45m for the former Manchester City prospect. body check tags ::
