Cesare Casadei to Chelsea: Details of Inter agreement revealed
FT Desk
- 17 Aug 2022 10:07 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea are set to sign Inter Milan's highly regarded midfielder Cesare Casadei. What are the terms of the deal for the young Italian?
Blues manager Thomas Tuchel has been keen to add some youthful talent to his midfield with Ngolo Kante and Jorginho now both the wrong side of 30 and the former in particular increasingly injury-prone.
Kante pulled up injured with a hamstring issue in the opening day 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, prompting Chelsea to pull the trigger on a deal for 19-year-old Casadei.
Frank Lampard is moving to Chelsea...
Well, the 'Italian Frank Lampard' is 😁
Cesare Casadei is a HUGE talent 🔥https://t.co/TDmRZobGW8— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 16, 2022
Chelsea will pay Inter €15 million up front for the Italy youth international, with a further €4.8m to be received in add-ons over the course of his six-year deal at Stamford Bridge.
Casadei is yet to make his Serie A debut for Inter, and there is speculation that he could be loaned straight back to Italy to continue his development before being integrated into the Chelsea first team.
But new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has introduced a 'Vision 2030' strategy that has already seen the £20m/€24m arrival of 18-year-old Aston Villa midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka, and he and Casadei could see first-team minutes soon than anticipated.
Casadei is expected to sign on completion of his medical later this week.
How good is Casadei?
Casadei is a midfielder who, like Kante, is just as happy attacking as he is defending. Last season he plundered 15 goals in 32 games for Inter's under-19s, and he has already been promoted to first-team training with Simone Inzaghi's side.
"Today he's a young talent," Inter CEO Giuseppe Marotta said recently. "He still has a long way to go before he can become a top player, but we’re very proud to have him with us. He's training with the first team, he's proving to be at a very good level.
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"Right now I can only talk about him in positive terms as he’s above average for his age, and after that a lot depends on him.
"It will depend how he’s able to map out his future, because apart from the technical qualities, you also have to have the personal ones which are often more important in football."
