Brighton CEO Paul Barber has explained why Moises Caicedo snubbed Liverpool for Chelsea and admits the decision left the south coast club in a ‘difficult position’.

Barber told talkSPORT: “Liverpool’s a fantastic football club. For any footballer to have the chance to play at Liverpool, you’d imagine that they’d be running up the M6 but it wasn’t to be.

“Moises and his advisors decided for whatever reason that London was their preferred destination, and ultimately Chelsea.

“Obviously that puts us in a slightly difficult position because we’ve negotiated a deal, we’d spent many days working with Liverpool. They couldn’t have done anymore, they were superb and professional throughout.

“But then it comes down to the player. At the point that it was clear he wasn’t going to Liverpool we have to go into a different mode – having negotiated a British record transfer, we have to do it again three days later.

“It was unusual to say the least, but we did it. We were working with Chelsea as soon as we realised Liverpool weren’t able to proceed and we had to protect our own interests; our player and his value. We’ve done that and Moises goes onto the next stage of his career.”