Liverpool have agreed a British record deal worth £111m to sign Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo

The Reds opens talks with Brighton on Thursday as they pivoted from Southampton’s Romeo Lavia to Caicedo and now terms are agreed between the two clubs.

Caicedo had been Chelsea’s prime midfield target all summer, but they baulked at the idea of meeting Brighton’s value – which has always been at least £100m – while Liverpool’s offer of £111m was immediately accepted.

Such a deal would represent a British record, eclipsing the £106m Chelsea paid to land Enzo Fernandez in January.

Chelsea made numerous offers for Caicedo, but their highest did not exceed £80m and now they have missed out on the Ecuador star who is destined for Anfield, where he will help form an overhauled midfield containing Hungarian star Dominik Szoboszlai and former Seagulls teammate Alexis Mac Allister.

Caicedo is now due to head to Merseyside to complete his medical and is expected to sign his contract before this weekend’s Premier League opener, which just so happens to come against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

For Liverpool, the deal is an obvious club record, eclipsing the £75m paid to sign centre-back Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in January 2018.

While such an expensive move was not initially on the cards this summer, Liverpool raised significant funds through the unplanned sales of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to Saudi Arabia and ultimately decided to pull the trigger.

As for Chelsea, the Blues joined the bidding for Liverpool target Lavia earlier this week as they submitted an offer to Southampton, who has been valued at £50m.

Chelsea have also confirmed their intention to trigger a clause of Leeds United midfielder Tyler Adams.