Moises Caicedo is widely considered as one of the top midfielders in the Premier League, but he didn’t make a great first impression on his Chelsea debut against West Ham

Caicedo sent wakeup call as Chelsea icon fires warning after disastrous debut (Image: Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images)

Marcel Desailly has warned Moises Caicedo that he must improve his pre-match preparation now that he’s joined a ‘big club’. The 21-year-old midfielder, who joined Chelsea from Brighton for a British-record fee earlier this month, replaced Ben Chilwell in the second-half of the Blues’ clash against West Ham to make his debut.

But, his first minutes in a Chelsea shirt didn’t quite go to plan. After a few heavy touches and misplaced passes, the Ecuador international hastily brought down Emerson Palmieri inside the west Londoners’ box, conceding a penalty in the dying embers of the tie.

Lucas Paqueta stepped up to the plate and put the game to bed with a confident strike past Robert Sanchez. After the game, Caicedo apologised on social media for his disastrous debut and vowed to right his wrongs.

On Instagram, he wrote: “It wasn’t the debut that I expected but I’m happy to get my first minutes with this big club. We’ll keep working hard to put this team where it deserves. Thanks to the fans who are supporting me.”

While Caicedo’s quality is undeniable, Desailly has warned the midfielder that he must ‘prepare himself much better’ now that he’s joined a ‘big club’. Speaking to Sky Sports, as quoted by the Metro, the former Chelsea defender said: “You don’t need to talk about it.

“We better start to put the mindset into the system, you need to adjust your implication. You are in a big club now! And in a big club you need to prepare yourself much better for each game. Now you digest the idea of £100million and you are now back home you need to be committed.”

In the post-match press conference at the London Stadium, Mauricio Pochettino leapt to the Chelsea debutant’s defence and insisted that he performed well, aside from his mistake. The 51-year-old said: “We took the decision that we would play with him in the last 30 minutes because he is ready to play 30 minutes but maybe he wasn’t ready to play from the beginning, but 30 minutes yes.

“He did well, some very positive things. Okay, in the last minute we concede a goal but we cannot say nothing wrong. It was positive but we [all] feel disappointed because we deserve more. But in the end we didn’t get the result we wanted.”

Soucre: football.london