Wonderkid was 'forced' to join Chelsea
Tom Weber
- 7 Oct 2023 13:02 BST
- 3 min read
Italian wonderkid Cesare Casadei is one that got away as far as Serie A is concerned.
The Chelsea youngster departed his home country last year, but many in Italy were not particularly happy about letting another prodigious talent walk away from the domestic league. Marco Verratti famously left Italy for PSG without ever playing in Serie A a decade ago.
But the similarities between the diminutive maestro and the imposing Casadei stop there. Nevertheless, Tuttomercatoweb writes that the youngster was 'forced to emigrate' because there was no clear pathway to the first team at Inter for him.
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In a scathing article that paints a bleak picture of the state of youth development in Italy, the outlet writes that when Casadei was with the Italian youth teams "he demonstrated that he is a player immediately ready for high levels...Yet Inter let him slip away, only to continue the million-dollar search for someone in his position even into this season too."
The Italian website asks, "did anyone from Serie A knock on the Nerazzurri's door for Casadei? No, Chelsea did it to the tune of millions."
Casadei at Chelsea
The youngster joined the Blues for a whopping €15 million last year, but there too he has, thus far, found his pathway to the senior side blocked, joining Reading on loan last term. After impressing at the U20 World Cup in the summer, Casadei earned a fresh loan move to relegated Leicester where he has become a regular, already scoring one goal from midfield.
The 20-year-old looks a very good talent, though some of his performances at the youth level have been somewhat skewed by his imposing size compared to his peers. Nevertheless, Chelsea have a good one on their hands.
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Casadei is one that got away for Serie A and if the above-mentioned report is anything to go by, more exciting youngsters could follow suit, which is bad news for Italy's domestic league but potentially good news for the Premier League.
