Why are top class midfielders going for over £100m?

What price a decent midfielder these days? It seems you need at least £100million burning a hole in your pocket to equip your engine room with a world class talent.

Such astronomical sums were once the exclusive preserve of the deadliest of strikers, or creative maestros who drew gasps of appreciation with their trickery.

But this summer has proven leading clubs now require nine-figure sums for the nuts and bolts.

Everyone is searching for the ultimate midfielder. The best are capable of fulfilling any role; one moment breaking up an opposition raid with a perfectly-timed tackle or interception, the next sending an attacking team-mate clear with a slide-rule pass.

They bring limitless energy, defensive assurance, creative craft and influence to their teams. Midfielders are important - and so they're expensive.

But there's undoubtedly an inflationary domino effect at play here as clubs engage in a costly arms race.

Fair enough, Paul Pogba was the world's most expensive footballer when Manchester United paid £89m to bring him back from Juventus in 2016. That amount now looks conservative.

The spiral began when Chelsea activated the £106.8m release clause in Enzo Fernandez's Benfica contract just hours before the transfer deadline back in January.

At the beginning of the summer, Real Madrid confirmed the signing of England star Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund.

They paid an initial £88.5m but that will rise to £113m if Bellingham performs as Real hope he will in the coming years.

No doubt West Ham thought that if 20-year-old Bellingham is worth that, then his more established England team-mate Declan Rice is worth £100m.

In the end, they sold their captain to Arsenal for a guaranteed £100m plus a further £5m in bonuses having dug their heels in on the price in the knowledge Man City were also interested.

But Caicedo's British record £115m move from Brighton to Chelsea is by far the most extraordinary of the lot.

Brighton, who will get £100m up front with a further £15m potentially in add-ons, have benefitted from serious interest in Caicedo from both Chelsea and Liverpool.

The Blues tried their luck with an £80m bid but Brighton wanted at least £100m. Liverpool thought they'd secured Caicedo for £111m last week, only for Chelsea to gazump them.

But some context is required. Firstly, Caicedo, just 21, joined Brighton from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle for a mere £4m just two-and-a-half years ago. It is a staggering profit.

And assuming the £115m price is realised, Caicedo, off the back of just one season of Premier League football, will rank alongside the likes of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe in the list of all-time most expensive football transfers.

The tone for the Caicedo deal was undoubtedly set by the prices realised for Fernandez, Bellingham and Rice this year.

The market will find its level and £100m is currently the minimum going rate for a top-class midfielder. Or, at least, a midfielder with the potential to become top-class. It isn't likely to come down in the foreseeable either.

While Fernandez was excellent in Chelsea's season-opening 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Sunday, the need for an out-and-out holding midfielder like Caicedo was obvious as the game swung from one end to the other.

Caicedo's best attributes are his tackling and anticipation to make interceptions. He seems to have boundless energy and isn't a bad passer either.

Mauricio Pochettino is an excellent man manager and knows how to tease the best out of young players' games. Caicedo should have plenty of potential to grow and develop if he can handle the inevitable pressure that comes with such a high price tag.

The same applies to Bellingham, long seen as the next great English hope. Real's initial £88.5m outlay could quickly come to be seen as a bargain.

The Spanish press have already nicknamed the 20-year-old 'the boss' and were comparing him to legend Zinedine Zidane after his dominant display, capped with a goal, in Saturday's 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao.

'He has so much personality and quality. He's a special player,' said his coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Anyone who has watched Bellingham knows this already but playing for Real ensures the young Englishman will feature in European and world football's biggest games.

Such experiences will only make him better, or that's what Real hope, and if he goes on to achieve what Zidane achieved in his career then wonderful.

Rice, 24, is further along with his career but, with all due respect to West Ham, moving to Arsenal means stepping up to another level.

Next month, he will experience Champions League football for the first time and he hopes he will be involved in a Premier League title race this season.

His class as a midfielder, and his leadership abilities, aren't in doubt but Rice still needs to prove himself trustworthy to Mikel Arteta in the biggest of games and justify that £105m fee.

West Ham turned down bids of £80m plus add-ons and then £90m, forcing Arsenal to break the £100m barrier but they were justified in doing so for their captain and an England regular.

The final fee will put Rice just shy of Fernandez, who at present is the fifth most expensive transfer of all time.

Undoubtedly his performances in Argentina's victorious World Cup campaign in Qatar emboldened Benfica in their insistence he wouldn't go for less than his £106.8m release clause.

In the end, Chelsea couldn't haggle them down but Fernandez, 22, looks like a high quality signing and given he signed a contract until 2031, he offers them much for the long-term.

Trouble is, Fernandez seems to have started a trend of midfielders costing in excess of £100m and the upwards spiral shows no sign of slowing as Todd Boehly gets out his chequebook again for Caicedo.