Petit names Chelsea, Liverpool stars he ‘wanted’ Arsenal to sign: ‘He’s amongst the best’ | OneFootball

Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit wanted the Gunners to sign Liverpool star Alexis Mac Allister and Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo.

Mikel Arteta has built a brilliant squad with two quality players in every position as Arsenal look to end their Premier League title drought this season.

Arsenal are four points clear of Manchester City at the summit, after drawing 2-2 at Sunderland on Saturday, while defending champions Liverpool are a further four points adrift ion eighth position.

The Gunners were looking for better standards in midfield and now they have a plethora of options with Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi particularly standing out this season.

And Petit has revealed that he always wanted Arsenal to sign Caicedo and Mac Allister from Brighton with the duo now playing for Chelsea and Liverpool respectively.

Petit told JeffBet: “When Caicedo was at Brighton, I wanted Arsenal to sign him and Mac Allister together.

“Mac Allister has gone on to be one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and won the trophy last year, Caicedo is now one of the best, too.”

On Caicedo, Petit added: “Caicedo came with a massive expectation to perform because of his price tag, but he’s meeting those expectations now.

“He’s amongst the best midfielders in the Premier League, to become a legend, he has to win the Premier League title and perform in the Champions League.

“Caicedo can reach the same level of N’Golo Kante and Claude Makelele, I wish him all the best to become a legend at the club.

“Chelsea need to win the Premier League and other big trophies, they’ve started well with the European Conference League and Club World Cup, but they’re a level below the trophies they need to win.”

Despite suggestions some Chelsea players are on modest wages, football finance expert Stefan Borson insists Caicedo will be one of the highest paid players in the Premier League.

Borson told Football Insider: “It’s my favourite subject this one. We hear a lot about Chelsea being unique in their approach, where they have highly incentivised contracts.

“I can tell you every single football club, including those in League Two, have highly incentivised contracts. It is a perfectly typical way of doing things.

“And in any event, if Chelsea have highly incentivised contracts, well, they’re currently paying very high wages because the club won the Club World Cup, qualified for the Champions League and has had a level of success, which would have then triggered all of these incentivisations that people said is so unique. I think you’ll find that the wage bill is very high.

“I think the idea that Caicedo signed for Chelsea in a competitive situation for £115m and was paid a wage anything other than at the very high end of Premier League wages is completely unbelievable,” said Borson.

“I think he’s very well paid right now and maybe better paid because he’s performing very well in a highly successful team right now.

“He may well get an increase, but he’s already on a lot of money, and it’s really as simple as that.”