Chelsea have made progress in talks to sign Moises Caicedo but Brighton are now holding the London club to a demand of £90 million basic fee.

The Blues would then have to add a further £10m to be made up in bonuses and expected clauses.

The saga has continued with little movement throughout the summer, as Chelsea have proven reluctant to go beyond £80m.

While Brighton, who rarely deviate from their initial asking price, have seen the nature of the talks revolve around pushing Chelsea to go closer to their valuation.

There has now been some breakthrough on the structure of a potential deal though, but the expectation is that the Stamford Bridge hierarchy will eventually have to go further and make a £90m-plus offer.

Chelsea are hoping to get it done before Sunday's season opener at home to Liverpool, as Mauricio Pochettino is eager to add more energy to his midfield.

An irony to completing such a deal would be that it could actually aid Jurgen Klopp’s side, since Chelsea have also been looking at Southampton’s Romeo Lavia.

That has enabled Saints to similarly stick to a hard valuation of around £50m, with the Reds so far repeatedly falling short despite also incrementally improving their offers.

If Chelsea are not in the market though, it lessens Southampton’s leverage, which could eventually see Lavia move to Anfield before the end of the window.

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