Former Chelsea midfielder and club legend Frank Lampard believes Moises Caicedo could soon belong in the same breath as N’Golo Kante and Claude Makelele.
Caicedo looks to have found his feet two years after signing for the Blues from Brighton for an eye-watering £115million in August 2023. The Ecuadorean capped off his latest appearance for Chelsea with a thunderous strike from range during their 2-1 win over Liverpool last Saturday.
Speaking on talkSPORT Drive, Lampard heaped praise on Caicedo and his ability to not only do the dirty defensive work but have a knack for scoring goals.
Moises Caicedo celebrates scoring a goal for Chelsea (Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Image)
“They (Kante and Makelele) were both amazing,” Lampard said.
“I played with Maka obviously and he was a different type to N’Golo, because N’Golo could really get around, whereas Maka basically sat in front a lot.
“But I see because of the style of play, he (Caicedo) can do the Makelele break-up stuff really, really well, close down space really quickly.
“Now he’s shown last season and this, that he’s got the sort of Kante bits in his game because N’Golo could do that, could arrive at the edge of the box and score.”
Lampard added the comparison of Caicedo and his legendary midfield predecessors was a ‘fair’ one but laid down the challenge for the 23-year-old to continue his remarkable trajectory.
“What he’s got to do now is just turn out consistently for the next season and hopefully try and win things with Chelsea,” Lampard said.
“It (the comparison) makes sense, he’s doing really well.”
Caicedo might be one of the most important players in the current Chelsea squad but he has a long way to go in terms of reaching the level of Kanye and Makelele.
Makelele arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2003 and made an almost immediate impact as he helped Chelsea to a second-place finish in the Premier League and a run to the Champions League semi-finals.
The tough-tackling Frenchman went one better the following season as the Blues lifted the Premier League title and the FA Cup.
Named in FIFPro’s World XI in 2005, Makelele left Chelsea career in the summer of 2008 as he joined Paris Saint-Germain.
Meanwhile, Kante was signed by the Blues after his breakout season in which he inspired Leicester City to the most Premier League title in 2016. He made 269 appearances for Chelsea and scored 13 goals, 11 of which came in the Premier League.
He was named the Premier League’s player of the season, the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the Football Writers Association’s Footballer of the Year for the 2016/17 season.
