In the build to yesterday's Carabao Cup final, many Chelsea fans were rubbing their hands together in glee at the thought of the side that their team was about to face at Wembley Stadium.
While Liverpool may be a much better team than this current Chelsea side, their mounting injury issues could perhaps tilt the balance of the tie in favour of the London club. After all, this was a Liverpool team without the likes of Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, and Dominik Szoboszai available.
Mauricio Pochettino's side had a few absentees of their own, but nothing near the scale of what would be missing on the opposite side.
It was thought that the midfield, in particular, was an area where Chelsea could have an advantage. In Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, they had the two most expensive signings in Premier League history to call upon.
Of course, Caicedo could well have been lining out in red in yesterday's game, had he chosen to join Liverpool when they offered £110million for his services last summer. In the end, he decided to go with the 'project' that was taking place at Stamford Bridge.
Jurgen Klopp's side were left scrambling after that decision, eventually signing a relatively unknown 30-year old Japanese midfielder from the Bundesliga. It was hardly a deal that set the pulses racing among the club's fan base, especially when you consider the scale of the spending going on at some other clubs.
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Tale of two midfielders sum up Liverpool & Chelsea differences
Speaking to supporters at Anfield ahead of the opening of a new stand back in December, Jurgen Klopp suggested that Liverpool 'dodged a bullet' by missing out on some of their transfer targets last summer.
Those words were clearly in Moises Caicedo's mind yesterday, with the Ecuador star playing like someone with a point to prove.
The issue was that he did not look to do so by dragging his team to a victory, but instead by injuring Ryan Gravenberch with a dangerous lunge that ultimately saw the Dutchman carried off in a stretcher. Ironically, Gravenberch is another player who probably wouldn't be at Anfield right now if Caicedo joined Liverpool last summer.
O árbitro não deu nem falta nesse lance.
Gravenberch saiu machucado. pic.twitter.com/7SGD9oV4pH— Curiosidades PL (@CuriosidadesPRL) February 25, 2024
In contrast, the player who cost around £100million less than his opposite number produced a brilliant performance.
Wataru Endo is becoming an increasingly important figure in the Liverpool team. Not only is he a combative defensive midfielder that works hard for the team, but he also offers the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Gravenberch the freedom to advance further up the pitch and influence the game.
If you were to ask a random punter off the street which one of Caicedo or Endo was a £115million footballer, there only would have been one answer. In fact, the Japanese star is quickly becoming one of the best transfer bargains in recent memory.
Endo running circles around Enzo and Caicedo is not talked about enough. pic.twitter.com/hWWjHrInKY
— Anything Liverpool (@AnythingLFC_) February 26, 2024
🔴🇯🇵 Jurgen Klopp: "I'm pretty sure that Wataru Endo will sign another long term contract at Liverpool".
"He might be 31 on the passport but... he's a machine!". pic.twitter.com/L9JsksTOQC— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 26, 2024
In many ways, the contrasting fortunes of those two players sum up the differences between Liverpool and Chelsea at the moment.
Jurgen Klopp has created a culture that has allowed his players to thrive, including many academy graduates who were thrown in at the deep end during yesterday's final and more than held their own. As for Chelsea, they added £200million worth of substitutes during the game, none of whom made any sort of impact.
Would Moises Caicedo be struggling in this manner had he joined Liverpool last summer? You'd think that it would be unlikely. Similarly, would Wataru Endo be considered one of the signings of the summer had he rocked up at Stamford Bridge and be thrown into this Chelsea side? No chance.
Whereas Liverpool have created a winning culture that consistently gets the best out of players, Chelsea have muddled together a group of balance sheet 'assets' that do not resemble a winning football team.
How Moises Caicedo could not see that last summer is anybody's guess.
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