It’s official! Chelsea have signed Cesare Casadei from Inter Milan on a permanent deal.
The Blues have paid £12.6 million for Inter Milan’s young teenage prospect Cesare Casadei. They are quickly bolstering their ranks with not only first-team signings but also players who could play an important role in the future. The two-time European champions have now signed Omari Hutchinson, Gabriel Slonina, Carney Chukwuemeka, Zak Sturge, and Tyler Dibling, all of whom are long-term investments. This youth revolution is very likely to continue with the signings of Anthony Gordon and Endrick Felipe, who the Blues will look to acquire in the future.
▫️ Carney Chukwuemeka;
▫️ Omari Hutchinson;
▫️ Cesare Casadei;
▫️ Gabriel Slonina;
▫️ Tyler Dibling, Zak Sturge and more…🔵 Chelsea have new top talents strategy, wanted by Todd Boehly – it’s not over, now targeting also South American stars #CFC
More: https://t.co/u7U6D3r2Ar pic.twitter.com/5SDDbOhoFN
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 17, 2022
But for now, we will have a look at Cesare Casadei.
Background on Cesare Casadei
Cesare Casadei, who was born in Ravenna, some 80 kilometres from Bologna, began his football career with Cervia before making a switch to Cesena. The teenager was then approached by Serie A powerhouse Inter Milan in 2018, and he signed for them. He quickly advanced through the ranks and played at the u-19 levels at just the age of 16. Casadei played football at even this level with ease, as seen by his 24 goals and 7 assists in 65 games. He scored 17 goals while playing for the team that won the Campionato Primavera 1 (Serie A u-19).
In 2021, the Guardian named Cesare as one of the players in the “Next Generation” list. But Casadei’s real breakthrough came at the u-19 UEFA EUROS this summer, where he attracted Chelsea’s scouting staff’s attention.
Chelsea just signed Cesare Casadei from Inter for €15m + €5m in bonuses. Another wonderkid investment for the future.
— Chelsea Creed 💙 (@chelsea_creed) August 16, 2022
What is his way of playing?
Standing at 186cm/6’1, he has made a name for himself as a midfielder in the u-19 Serie A. If it was any other team other than Inter Milan who bolster the likes of Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Nicolò Barella, Marcelo Brozović alongwith new arrivals Henrikh Mkhitaryan & Kristjan Asllani, he would have definitely started in Serie A by now.
He is a real hard worker off the ball (something Tuchel will appreciate as Mount and Gallagher have both made a name for themselves through this trait). He covers large areas of the ground very quickly and provides excellent cover for his full-backs when bombing forward and thus avoiding his side getting counter-attacked.
Like all the new crop of players these days, he too is quick and agile which allows him to play as a 6, 8 or 10 depending on his manager. On the ball, he is a short passer and always has the intent of making positive passes which helps the team progress forward. He has that trait in him that his passes could split the opposition defence, allowing attackers to do their work with the ball.
But his most dangerous asset would be his ability in and around the penalty box. With Inter’s youth team he found a lot of success due to his attacking threat in and around the box, scoring 17 goals in 2,270 minutes. Further, in addition to being an excellent header of the ball, he is also a good penalty taker (which will be helpful given how frequently Chelsea’s games have ended in shootouts).
Cesare Casadei scores quite a lot of headers 👀📝#chelsea #cfc pic.twitter.com/x4k54ruGk8
— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) August 17, 2022
What would be some of the things that Tuchel needs to work out?
The issue with Cesare would be that the manager will need to lock down his position. It is great that he can play as a 6,8 or 10 but in Chelsea’s system all these positions are very different, with different demands. You cannot play him as a 6 for the entirety of a season because he does not have the long-range game required for the position. And Chelsea does not play with an 8 or a 10 as there is space for one less midfielder due to the presence of an extra defender in the 3-4-3 system.
He has played as a mezzala, a position where the player plays outside and ahead of a single, deeper midfielder for his youth national side while Inter deployed him as a box-to-box midfielder that attacks the penalty area aggressively.
Both the positions are a bit of a weird fit given Thomas Tuchel’s tactics.
CONCLUSION
This is again one for the future. A future envisioned by new owner Todd Boehly, as he looks likely to transition out of the Jorginho – Kante duo to a Kovacic and whoever Tuchel feels could play very well alongside him. But he is an exciting prospect who is very raw and young. This will allow the manager to work with him as he shapes and molds Casadei into the player he wants. When the senior players will be off to the World Cup in Qatar, Tuchel sure will have an amazing time working with these new prospects that Chelsea have signed this summer and hope there will be more featuring Casadei in the future Blues’ squad.
