Summary Moises Caicedo had a dreadful debut for Chelsea, giving away a penalty in his first match for the club. Despite being an expensive signing, Caicedo failed to make a positive impact and actually made things worse by conceding a late penalty in a 3-1 loss to West Ham. Caicedo received messages of support from his Chelsea teammates on social media after his disappointing debut.
Moises Caicedo has taken to social media to talk about his dreadful debut for Chelsea after he gave away a penalty on his first outing for the club.
How much is Caicedo worth?
With new manager Mauricio Pochettino now calling the shots at Stamford Bridge, the good "vibes" are expected to return to West London and should be aided by some exciting summer arrivals.
Most notably, Caicedo has arrived to bolster the midfield after Chelsea agreed to pay Brighton and Hove Albion a whopping British-record fee of £115m – which is an awful lot more than his Transfermarkt value of £64.13m. While they also handed the Ecuadorian an eight-year contract.
However, it appears that change for the better won't simply happen overnight. Indeed, having drawn 1-1 against Liverpool in their first game of the Premier League season, the Blues then followed that up with a disappointing defeat away at West Ham United.
Nayef Aguerd opened the scoring after just seven minutes but Carney Chukwuemeka levelled things before half-time. Enzo Fernandez did have the chance to put his side 2-1 up but failed to convert his penalty.
Against the run of play, Michail Antonio then scored a fine goal to instead give the Hammers the lead and Caicedo was soon called upon by Pochettino to make his debut.
Coming off the bench, however, the 21-year-old failed to have a positive impact – even though Aguerd was sent off with plenty of time still left on the clock.
In fact, not only did Caicedo not change the game in Chelsea's favour, he actually made things worse as he gave away a late penalty, allowing Lucas Paqueta to seal a famous 3-1 win for West Ham against their London rivals.
Now in the aftermath of the defeat, the young midfielder took to Instagram to express his feelings, writing: "It wasn’t the debut that I expected but I’m happy to get my first minutes with this big club
"We’ll keep working hard to put this team where it deserves. Thanks to the fans who are supporting me."
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Moisés Caicedo23 (@moises_caicedo55)
A few Chelsea players responded with messages of support for their new teammate. For instance, Enzo Fernandez said: "This is not how it starts, but how it ends. Let's go all out brother! We will all work together."
New club captain Reece James also chimed in with: "Together as one." And fellow summer signing Romeo Lavia added: "In this all together mi hermano."
Carney Chukwuemeka, Christopher Nkunku and Marc Cucurella also posted messages of support.
How bad was Caicedo on his Chelsea debut?
As per Staman Dave – a football analyst sometimes seen on Sky Sports – Caicedo truly had a nightmare debut. In just 38 minutes on the pitch, the midfielder finished the game having lost the ball eight times, made one error leading to a shot, and made two fouls – one of which was the penalty he conceded.
Read the latest Chelsea transfer news HERE…
In the player ratings for 90min, journalist Jude Summerfield slammed his efforts with a 2/10 rating and wrote: "Gave away a penalty to compound a poor day for Chelsea."
Adrian Kajumba of the Daily Mail wasn't any kinder either, as he wrote: "Moises Caicedo was booed when he entered the field just after the hour for his Chelsea debut. His crime? Seemingly his price tag, after his British-record £115million move. It was a debut to forget for the Ecuadorian who conceded the penalty from which West Ham sealed their win in injury time."