Moises Caicedo: Chelsea star set for new battle to be crowned Premier League's best | OneFootball

Midfielder targeting a big campaign after establishing himself as one of the most complete in England

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Malik Ouzia

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By the time the 23-year-old finally jetted off on holiday after the Blues were crowned world champions in the US, it felt totally justified to suggest that he had been the best defensive midfielder in England last season.

Retaining that status over the course of the upcoming campaign is an even harder challenge.

Rodri’s return to fitness is a major reason why. The Spaniard, who won the Ballon d’Or in 2024, missed almost the entire season with a horrific ACL and meniscus injury suffered against Arsenal in September last year. His absence was sorely felt at Manchester City, who finished third in the Premier League and were a shadow of their former selves.

Caicedo shone for Chelsea last season

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City will expect to come back roaring this season, and Rodri too, with his cultured tempo-setting influence as well as tough-tackling and disrupting of opposition attacks. Many felt he was the best player on the planet before his injury. He will miss the start of the season after an injury setback, and the question is whether he can now return to those levels

Caicedo’s challenge to continue leading the way in defensive midfield faces other hurdles too, besides Rodri's return, including the steady emergence of Ryan Gravenberch as a pivotal player for Liverpool, as well as Tottenham’s loan signing of Joao Palhinha.

Palhinha spent much of his time at Bayern Munich last season sat on the bench so might be a tad rusty, but Spurs will hope he slips into their team seamlessly. At Fulham, for two seasons, he was loved by the entire fanbase. In 2023-24, no one made more tackles in the Premier League than him.

But Caicedo’s underlying numbers last term made for similarly impressive reading, as his partnership with Enzo Fernandez continued to blossom and the Ecuadorian set himself apart as one of the league’s most complete midfielders.

That might sound a mischaracterisation of Caicedo, who is thought of chiefly as a midfield destroyer with an almost unparalleled lung capacity to dart around the pitch all game every game, but he showed himself to be so much more last season.

Caicedo says he has ‘hunger for more’ at Chelsea

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His 1,967 completed passes across the Premier League season placed him first among all midfielders in the division on that metric. In fact, the only players who ranked above him were six centre-backs, a position where safe sideways passes are often the order of the day and thus less of a barometer of quality than tallying those sorts of numbers from midfield. Caicedo has become one of the league’s most underrated passers.

What he does best he also continued to do with outstanding efficiency, ranking in the top ten Premier League players for interceptions made (49), passes blocked (39), tackles attempted (114) and tackles won (73). And if his 11 yellow cards - only three players accumulated more - suggested a disciplinary issue that could be improved upon this season, he was again among the league’s top ten players for fouls drawn (58): a sense of things cancelling themselves out.

“For sure I am going to try and play even better than last season,” said Caicedo this week. “I have hunger for more. I have always said I don’t have limits; the sky is the limit. I am going to work hard to keep achieving a lot of things for this amazing club.”

Chelsea head into the new season brimming with confidence as newly-crowned world champions and with their best midfielder at the top of his game.

If he can keep form up across the campaign and show himself to be the league’s best once more, he will be one of Chelsea’s most important players.