Ex-Chelsea midfielder Emmanuel Petit claims both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia chose to join his former club instead of Liverpool due to financial reasons.

The Reds were very interested in buying the two midfielders, and Petit told BettingSites.co.uk that, if he had the choice, he would have made the move to Anfield instead:

“Sportingly, the best decision right now would be to go to Liverpool. If I am Caicedo or Lavia, I’m going to Liverpool instead of Chelsea because I can’t see a clear plan for what is going on at Chelsea. They now have around thirty-five players, which is crazy! Thirty-five players? Come on.”

Petit was particularly critical of Caicedo. Liverpool tabled a club record £110m bid for the Ecuadorian earlier this month, only for the player to hold out for a move to Stamford Bridge. Petit says there is only one reason why the player ended up with the Blues:

“If I was Caicedo I would have signed for Liverpool because I would reunite with Mac Allister and I would play with less pressure because so many of their midfield players have left the club. For me, the answer is very easy. If you ask somebody why Caicedo and Lavia decided to go to Chelsea, the answer is just money. Money talks for the clubs and for the players.”

Liverpool have to shoulder some of the blame for losing out on both players

While Petit is right to say that the Merseyside club would have been the better fit for sporting reasons, the way the Reds went about their business in trying to sign Caicedo and Lavia wasn’t ideal.

They didn’t show much interest in Caicedo until very late on. In contrast, Chelsea had an agreement on personal terms for a number of months. In Lavia’s case, Liverpool were originally favourites to sign the Belgian, only for them to hesitate on the asking price.

Even so, Petit’s point still stands and he is not the only former Chelsea player to make the same argument.