Moises Caicedo, a Chelsea midfielder, has explained why he turned down a move to Liverpool and delivered a strong response to his poor start at Stamford Bridge.

Caicedo joined Chelsea in August for a British record fee of £115 million, after a tough and unexpected struggle with the Reds. He left Brighton & Hove Albion, undermining Jurgen Klopp’s attempts to bolster his Liverpool midfield with the arrivals of Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szoboszlai.

The fight for Caicedo was a well-publicized but brief tug of war between Mauricio Pochettino and the German. Brighton had initially accepted the Reds’ shock offer before the Londoners, who had long been keen, made their own attempt to sign the Ecuador international.

And Caicedo now claims that Liverpool entered the contest too late, with Chelsea ultimately winning the battle to terminate the transfer controversy.

“I chose Chelsea because I was talking with them first and then it was impossible not to choose them. They were with me, supporting me because in the summer I suffered a lot because it was complicated to leave Brighton,” he said.

“They were with me. In the last moment, Liverpool called me but it was late. It was too late, you know? I wanted to play for Chelsea and the people that worked here were with me through every moment and it was tough to say no to Chelsea.

“It’s Chelsea, you know. At Chelsea, you always have to win every game and if you don’t, you’ll feel the pressure. I’ve only been here for four months, everything is new for me and I think it’s about time. It’ll take time because I know my quality, I know my teampmates and it’ll be our time.”

Chelsea is currently 12th in the Premier League. Despite another free-spending summer, the defeat to Everton on Sunday was their eighth in the first 16 games.

While Liverpool was let down in their pursuits of Caicedo and later Romeo Lavia, they presently sit atop the table before of Sunday’s clash with Manchester United at Anfield.