“Announced today” – €15m deal finally agreed, medical passed – Athletic | OneFootball

After a long back and forth which saw him seemingly close to a move to several different clubs, it looks like Cesare Casadei finally has his move.

Simon Johnson of the Athletic has the exclusive report that the midfielder is set to join Torino, the team who were initially linked with the former Inter man, but seemed to fall behind other teams (notably Lazio) in the process.

The numbers are interesting. Torino were out of the race because Chelsea were demanding €20-25million. But as January wore on, the Blues’ resolve faded, and they were eventually willing to accept €15m – which is what the Bulls had offered right back at the start.

Chelsea also didn’t get the 35-40% sell on clause they wanted. Instead, Johnson reckons it’s closer to 25%. That still gives the chance for decent money further down the line, but the fact that our demands dropped both on price and eventually on sell-on shows it was more difficult to shift him than our sporting directors anticipated, despite interest from La Liga teams too.

It also removes another midfield option from the squad, although with the Conference League group stage over, his minutes were always going to be more limited in this second half of the season.

Chelsea fail to profit on another prospect

Cesare Casadei with Enzo Maresca on the training pitch. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)

Chelsea signed Casadei in the summer of 2022 for €15m, with potential add-ons of €5m. So even in the best case scenario, this has all been a bit of a waste of time. We’ve paid his wages for two and a half years, got 17 appearances out of him, and eventually have sold him on for minimal profit.

The only exception to that would be if he absolutely explodes at Torino and is sold on for a huge fee. But that doesn’t seem too likely.

This player trading stuff is harder than it looks, eh?