- 3 hours ago
Chelsea star urged to leave in January
Cameron Smith
- Updated: 18 Oct 2024 10:31 BST
- 4 min read
Cesare Casadei has been told to leave Chelsea during the January transfer window by Italy U21 head coach Carmine Nunziata.
Casadei joined the Blues from Inter Milan for €14.9 million in 2022, but he has struggled to make an impact since his arrival amid significant competition for places.
Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are all ahead of Casadei in the pecking order at Stamford Bridge, and the Italian has already been excluded from Chelsea’s Premier League matchday squad on five occasions so far this season.
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The 21-year-old spent the first half of last season on loan at Leicester City, where he was coached by new Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, and Nunziata believes Casadei would benefit greatly from regular club football.
He told Rai Radio 1 Sport (via Metro): “Last year Cesare had a good first part with Leicester, then he went to Chelsea and played little.
“This year they kept him there, I advised him to see how it goes until January, otherwise it’s right to look around for another solution.
“The important thing is that the boys play. If they find a team in Italy, even better. But the experience abroad is also formative. For example, after playing in Switzerland, I found [Mattia] Zanotti to have improved a lot and grown a lot.”
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What has Cesare Casadei said?
Casadei recently admitted that he was considering his future at Chelsea during the most recent summer transfer window.
The Italian mustered just 71 minutes of action for the Blues after returning from his loan spell at Leicester in January and the summer arrival of Dewsbury-Hall pushed him even further down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.
“To be honest at the start of this season I was thinking about what was the best solution for me,” Casadei revealed to BBC Sport at the start of October.
Current ETV
Cesare Casadei
M (C)
Chelsea
Cesare Casadei
M (C)
Chelsea
ETV Range
€4.4M - €7.3M
“I think last season was quite difficult, especially the last six months, because I didn’t play a lot. I was not really happy, because everyone wants game time.
“But from the moment I spoke to the manager I was 100% sure that the decision to stay was best for me to improve and for my career.
“I didn’t want to go permanently. There were some possible loans. But I have always wanted to play for Chelsea. We are one of the biggest teams in the world so I could not be more proud to play for Chelsea.”
