Pochettino compares his £115m midfielder to Zidane making his Real Madrid move | OneFootball

In the embargoed section of the press conference ahead of today’s game against Liverpool, Mauricio Pochettino had a good riff about Moises Caicedo.

The midfielder was the centre of a transfer tug of war between these two clubs in the summer, and looks like he will be seen as a bone of contention between the two for years to come.

His start in a Chelsea shirt has been slow, but Pochettino had some very flattering comparisons for him as he urged Blues fans to be patient with the Ecuadorian:

“Sometimes the amount you pay is because they are going to come and the day after they will perform, but now you want to sign a good player with the potential to be one of the best in their position,” Pochettino noted, with reference to the £115m it took to sign Caicedo from Brighton.

“Remember when [Zinedine] Zidane or Kaka went to Real Madrid – they paid a big amount of money. Zidane was 26 or 27 [he was 29]. I think it took seven or eight months for him to perform because expectation is massive and adaptation is difficult. The pressure is massive.”

We all know what he means – bigger price tags mean bigger expectations. If we’d signed Caicedo for a small sum like Brighton had, we’d be a lot more excited about what we’re seeing. As it is, Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo together make up the most expensive double pivot in history. Anything less than a 10/10 performance from them is seen as a disappointment, in that light, which is a tough situation to be in.