Cesare Casadei played regularly for Leicester on loan – so why did Chelsea recall him?
(Top photo: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Mar 13, 2024 - THE ATHLETIC
Let’s start with a simple game of compare and contrast: 25 appearances versus three, 1,111 minutes as opposed to 17.
These stats provide the story of midfielder Cesare Casadei’s mixed fortunes this season.
The young Italian midfielder spent the first half of the campaign playing fairly regularly on loan at Leicester City in the Championship before being recalled by parent club Chelsea in January. He has barely enjoyed a kick for the Premier League side since.
Casadei cannot add to his game time until Chelsea host Burnley on March 30 at the earliest. The Italy Under-21 international is ineligible to play in Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final at home against Leicester having already represented Enzo Maresca’s side in their third-round win over fellow second-tier club Millwall in January (rules dictate you cannot represent two teams in the competition).
He scored one goal and set up another that day in what turned out to be his penultimate appearance for Leicester.
Beyond that Burnley fixture, there will be 10 Premier League games this season in which Casadei can play a part. Judging from how head coach Mauricio Pochettino has used him, we can assume any sightings of the midfielder will be fleeting.
Had Casadei seen out the campaign at Leicester City, he would not have been allowed to face Chelsea this weekend, either, because of loan rules, but the fixture does throw his situation into the spotlight and provoke questions about his situation.
Casadei got regular minutes for Leicester during his loan
(Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
No one would ever claim Casadei, who joined Chelsea from Inter Milan in 2022 for an initial €15million (£12.8m; $16.4m) with the potential of a further €5m in add-ons, was a huge fan favourite at Leicester City.
His 15 games on loan at Reading in a Championship relegation fight last year represented his only experience at senior level before leaving for a club under pressure to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt. Inevitably, his rawness and lack of consistency showed. Those fault lines were not always treated sympathetically.
Leicester’s coach Maresca was a big admirer, though, and spoke about him in glowing terms. Casadei started just 11 of his 25 games, but he was still involved regularly.
In Maresca’s favoured 4-3-3 formation, Casadei was perhaps tasked with a more disciplined role than he would have liked as one of the two ‘No 8s’. It meant he did not have as much licence as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to press high up the pitch, even if he did still contribute three goals and two assists.
Following a strike in a 3-0 win over Rotherham in December, Maresca said of his compatriot: “Every game he plays, he has chances. Because of the age, he needs to become a little more clinical, but he’s a very, very good player.”
Casadei’s role was mainly to be a backup to 27-year-old Wilfred Ndidi. When Ndidi was injured in late December and forecast to be sidelined for two months, Casadei was earmarked for a consistent run in Leicester’s first XI.
So it came as a big shock when Chelsea triggered a break clause in the loan agreement to bring him back to Stamford Bridge.
“We were surprised Casadei went back to Chelsea,” Maresca said. “They own him so they can decide — we can’t do anything. We didn’t expect it, but we deal with it.”
Casadei curses after a missed opportunity against Coventry
(Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Why did Chelsea make such a call?
The official explanation from Pochettino at the time was that injuries to Romeo Lavia, Carney Chukwuemeka and Lesley Ugochukwu left him short of midfield options. Had Moises Caicedo or Enzo Fernandez also succumbed to fitness issues in early February, they would have been left dangerously light in the centre, so Casadei was needed as a backup.
“We did not want to cut his development,” said Pochettino last month. “If you see the squad, it was only Enzo, Moises and Conor (Gallagher), and not another real midfielder, no? We were talking with him, we explained the situation, we explained that maybe we would use him or not. He was happy to come back — it was not just our decision.
“If we felt doubt from him to come back, we would find different solutions. He is going to be involved in the Premier League games.”
Chelsea have indicated they were content with Casadei’s progress at Leicester, but more than one source — speaking anonymously to The Athletic in order to protect relationships — have indicated they recalled the midfielder because they were also unhappy with the minutes he was securing at the Championship club. If that was the case, it rings rather ridiculous now that Casadei has barely featured at all in a Chelsea shirt since returning.
It is still a positive that he made his club debut at Liverpool (albeit with the team 4-1 down) and came on at Manchester City and at home to Newcastle to help secure a 1-1 draw and a 3-2 victory. He also trains daily with the first-team squad and is benefiting from being in his team-mates’ presence.
But surely he would have developed more if he had stayed where he was? Being involved in a tight promotion race in the Championship and playing in front of a demanding fanbase provides a greater opportunity to learn.
Casadei (right) trains with his Chelsea team-mates in Cobham
(Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Pochettino consistently talks about how tired his midfield players are because of the injury issues that have hampered Chelsea all season — but it is his choice not to give them more of a break by playing Casadei more. If he does not think he is ready for the Premier League, which would be understandable given his age and relative lack of senior football, then the argument to end his loan at Leicester seems all the more flawed.
So what happens in the future?
Casadei, whose grasp of English has significantly improved over the last 12 months, is still highly regarded within the club. While nothing is set in stone, it is expected he will go on the pre-season tour of the United States in the summer before being sent out on loan again, perhaps to a European club playing in the top division. That could yet be in the Premier League.
He has admirers in the game. Memories are still fresh of him starring for Italy in May last year at the Under-20s World Cup, finishing the tournament as the top scorer with seven goals. He departed having also claimed the Golden Ball award as the most valuable player.
Like so many signings Chelsea have made over the past few years, there is potential there. The world may just have to wait a while longer to see it realised.
Simon Johnson has spent the majority of his career as a sports reporter since 2000 covering Chelsea, firstly for Hayters and then the London Evening Standard. This included going to every game home and away as the west London club secured the Champions League in 2012. He has also reported on the England national team between 2008-19 and been a regular contributor to talkSPORT radio station for over a decade. Follow Simon on Twitter @SJohnsonSport
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