Legendary Chelsea star says world class Blue is ready to follow in his footsteps | OneFootball

Claude Makelele was a legendary player for his domination in defensive midfield, and his arrival at Chelsea as part of the Roman Abramovich revolution was a key part in helping Jose Mourinho transform his team into Premier League winners.

Right now the closest thing we have to Makelele is Moises Caicedo, and the Frenchman has spoken in glowing terms about his successor.

Makelele says he has a true successor at Chelsea

“I think it is the ‘Caicedo role’ now,” Makelele said in an exclusive interview with Ben Jacobs for Give Me Sport.

“It gives me happiness if these young players take some things from me. Now this position has started to be recognised in world football.

“I was happy to see Rodri win the Ballon d’Or, because in my time, the focus was not on this kind of midfielder. It was always about strikers or wingers and never midfielders. This position is one of the most important in the game, and now we see Rodri, or Pedri, at Barcelona, getting acclaim.

“With Caicedo, I love this boy. He’s humble and hard-working. I talked with him before he arrived at Chelsea, and he told me I was his example. I’m sure he can be a success at Chelsea because he’s a good player.”

Caicedo ready to compete against the world’s best from next week

Moises Caicedo celebrates with Pedro Neto. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

We’re huge Caicedo fans too, and we can’t wait to see him in action at the Club World Cup starting next week, where he will be able to compete against the world’s very best, and next season in the Champions League where things will get even more intense.

The good news is that the arrival of Andrey Santos and Dario Essugo mean more cover to allow the Ecuador star some time off.