Out of favour €15m man catches eye of national team boss with impressive U21s performance | OneFootball

Cesare Casadei is struggling for minutes at Chelsea but his recent performance for Italy’s under-21 side has  caught the attention of national team boss Luciano Spalletti.

Casadei arrived at Chelsea from Italian side Inter Milan in the summer of 2022,  but has yet to establish himself in the first team set up at Stamford Bridge and has had loan spells at Reading and Leicester.

The 21-year-old was expected to be one of the players to leave in the summer, but he ended up staying and said in a recent interview he wasn’t planning to leave the club in January.

Casadei catches the eye of Spalletti

The Italian hasn’t had the easiest of times at Chelsea and played just 71 minutes for the Blues last season after being recalled from his loan at Leicester in January.

This season his minutes have been limited to the Carabao Cup and the Conference League, where he’s been deployed in a deeper role than he’s used to.

Casadei had a good international break with the Italy under-21s and scored a nice goal in the 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland under-21s.

Casadei is yet to feature for Chelsea in the Premier League this season. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/GettyImages)

His performance caught the attention of Italy boss Spalletti who believes the midfielder could be ready for the senior side shortly.

“He’s gone through a period where he played little, but now he’s found his rhythm. He has good physical structure and stamina. He’s a player who could become ready in a short time.,” he told reporters in quotes picked up by Foot Italia.

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There’s fierce competition for places in midfield and Casadei is competing with the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for minutes.

He clearly backs himself but it’s  going to be difficult to break into the side in the Premier League and Casadei’s next minutes are likely to come in the Conference League against Panathinaikos on October 24th.