Brighton captain Lewis Dunk insists remains in line to feature in tonight’s friendly against Newcastle despite the mounting speculation surrounding his future.
The Ecuador international came close to leaving the south coast club in January amid serious interest from Arsenal, but eventually signed a new deal just days after handing in a transfer request.
Despite his apparent renewed commitment, Caicedo’s future is again the matter of conjecture given ’s determination to sign him.
with owner Tony Bloom only willing to sanction a deal in the region of £100m.
Caicedo featured in Brighton’s friendly against Newcastle yesterday and Dunk is hopeful the combative midfielder will remain at Brighton ahead of the club’s maiden European campaign.
He told Sky Sports: ‘It’s not the first time and not the last for a player that’s in the squad. Obviously, it’s a difficult place to be in for him but we are all there for him.
Obviously we don’t want him to go! What a player he is he makes my life easier him playing in front of me. Hopefully he can stay and we can keep him happy and we are all there for him.
‘He’s getting on with training, he’s working hard, he played last night and I’m sure he’ll play tomorrow. He’s getting fit for the season hopefully with us.’
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi is equally hopeful that Caicedo will remain part of his squad, even if he understands the attraction of a move to Chelsea.
He said: ‘When you are a young player it is difficult to leave with the possibility to change team to change city, to change everything but he is a serious guy, a serious player and he is working well.
‘We are waiting for a new situation and it can change. Trust me, what I would like is to keep him with us but this is not my work. My work is to tell my owner if Caicedo leaves we need another big important midfielder.’
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