The keys to Linda Caicedo’s transfer to Real Madrid: the most mediatic signing in Spanish women’s football
Changing agent at the end of 2022 was decisive in helping Linda Caicedo to move away from Barça and join Real Madrid.
Real Madrid’s women’s team will add a star addition to their squad by the end of Thursday. Linda Caicedo, the jewel in their crown, landed in the Spanish capital at 8:00 this morning after crossing the Atlantic on a 10-hour flight from Monterrey, Mexico, where she participated in the recent Women’s Revelations Cup with Colombia. A handful of reporters and a club delegate were waiting at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport for the young Colombian star who, after having been very close to joining Barcelona, will sign a long-term contract with Real Madrid today, once she passes a medical. The 18-year-old, considered best Under-20 player in the world in 2022, came close to signing for Barcelona but changing her agent at the end of last year changed her destiny...
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Up until December, Spanish football agent Carles Catalán had been in charge of managing Linda Caicedo’s career. Caicedo made her debut in Colombia’s top flight at the age of 14 with América de Cali Femenino, with who she won the league in 2019, scoring seven goals in seven games. Catalán was in charge of the operation by which the already promising striker swapped América de Cali for another the other great teams in the city, Deportivo Cali - a move which caused quite a stir. “Her departure was not taken well by club officials or the fans, although some recognized that she is very young and has every right to seek other, new horizons,” the local press reported at the time.
Catalán always maintained a close relationship with Barcelona, and the Catalan club confirmed an an interest in the promising young Colombian player. In November 2022, Barça president Joan Laporta announced, “She is a player who has exceptional talent, who is also very aware of our scouting department, I know there have been contacts”.
“There was a fight to get Linda and I think the previous agent was decisive for Linda to opt for Real Madrid”
Around the same time, Caicedo changed her agent - a decision which caused some commotion. Cisco Terreros, a FIFA agent, put himself in charge of the teenager’s career to which Catalán retorted: “We have taken care of Linda’s image, but when fame arrives, people seek to take advantage of it. Like Mr. Cisco Terreros...”
With a new representative, Caicedo’s career also took a new turn. From being on the cusp of signing for Barça, she opted for their arch rivals, Real Madrid. “There was a struggle to get Linda and I think this last agent was decisive for Linda to opt for Real Madrid,” Francisco Henao, a journalist for the newspaper El País, told AS in a phone call from Cali. “Things accelerated in the last month and negotiations with Real Madrid, after having been taken as read that she was going to Barcelona, were carried out in the most complete secrecy ”.
After participating in the Copa América, in which she was voted best player of the tournament, the Under-20 World Cup and the Under-17 World Cup, in which she was runner-up after losing the final to Spain, Linda Caicedo ended her contract with Deportivo Cali at the end of 2022 and, after turning 18 on 22 February, she was old enough to sign for a foreign club.
Those in Linda Caicedo’s inner circle suggest that she will sign a three-year contract with Real Madrid, after passing the medical examination.