Brighton & Hove Albion have reportedly rejected a second bid from Arsenal for Ecuador midfielder Moises Caicedo.
The Premier League leaders made a £60m bid for the Ecuador international last week, but Brighton refused to sell him in January.
Caicedo, who has also been linked with Chelsea and Liverpool this month, publicly announced his desire to leave Brighton on social media within hours of Arsenal’s rejected offer.
Despite Brighton’s stance, Arsenal are not giving up hope of completing a deal before Tuesday’s transfer deadline, and are said to have tabled a second offer worth £70m on Sunday.
The proposed deal would see Brighton receive £65 million upfront and an additional £5m in performance-related add-ons, but The Athletic reports that Arsenal’s second bid was quickly turned down.
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Despite being left out of the squad for Sunday’s FA Cup win over Liverpool, Roberto De Zerbi’s has remained steadfast in his belief that Caicedo will not be leaving the club in January.
After posting on social media, the 21-year-old allegedly received instructions to skip training, but Brighton still defeated Liverpool 2-1 to eliminate them from the FA Cup. The goals came from Lewis Dunk and Kaoru Mitoma.
Following Sunday’s victory, Seagulls manager De Zerbi stated that he wanted to keep Caicedo, but that the club was also willing to move forward without him.
Caicedo has made 31 appearances for Brighton in all competitions since joining for €5m (£4.4m) from Independiente del Valle in 2021, scoring two goals and registering three assists.
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