Barcelona legend Carles Puyol has told El Universo that Chelsea are a ‘great team’ for Moisés Caicedo to continue his development.
The Blues fought hard and reportedly invested a base fee of £100m to sign the 22-year-old from Brighton & Hove Albion last summer.
Caicedo has made 40 appearances for Chelsea this season and has been subject to criticism at times for his performances.
Puyol visited Quito, the capital of Ecuador, with the Champions League trophy, and that gave El Universo a chance to have a chat with him about Ecuadorian football.
The newspaper points out the former Barcelona defender made a special note for the Chelsea midfielder.
“A great player, who has the necessary quality, the necessary talent to be able to do important things; then other aspects must be given, but the most important thing is that he’s in a great team where he can grow a lot,” he said.
“[It’s] a team that competes well, and now we’ll see how far they can go in the Copa América with players like Caicedo, who is good; but not only him, because there are many young players who are showing a good level, a reflection of the great work they are doing,” Puyol explained.
Caicedo is one of the young talents from Ecuador who’s currently at a European club, and the ex-Barcelona star claims teams invest in them because “they have good potential”.
At the same time, Puyol has talked about the conditions that need to be fulfilled to become a successful player.
“There are various issues, such as adapting to another country, other customs, another culture, but if they sign them it is because they have potential,” he added.
“Then comes patience, commitment, living in this profession and trying to make the most of the opportunity given to youngsters in football.
“Because if there is no commitment, if you don’t live the profession as it is understood that you have to live it, it is difficult for you to have the performance that is expected of you, and there will be other players who are willing to have that discipline, commitment and desire to improve. So, they are going to lose that opportunity and when they are older, they will regret it.”
