Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson believes that Chelsea’s signing of Moises Caicedo means they will pip Liverpool to a place in this season’s Premier League top four.

The transfer battle that took place within the last week played out in front of the backdrop of a conveniently-planned opening game of the 2023/24 campaign, as the Reds travelled to Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Liverpool arrived in the capital coming from a pre-season of filled with positive points and negatives to iron out through regular football. Chelsea, meanwhile, had injury woes and the unpredictability of what a young squad would perform like under new boss Mauricio Pochettino.

“You could see in Sunday’s game that both clubs need Caicedo and that’s why he’s going for £115m. Is he worth that? Not for me, but Chelsea supporters won’t care how much they pay.

“Liverpool were so open. I just don’t see who is going to win the ball back for them. Conor Gallagher did a good job for Chelsea to break things up after a slow start, but Liverpool didn’t have that.

“If Liverpool had played one of the top sides, like Arsenal or Man City, on Sunday then they’d have been in trouble, it could have been four or five. They got ripped open a lot of times and were never punished.”