How Casadei got on during Leicester loan spell prior to Chelsea recall | OneFootball

Cesare Casadei is set to return to first team training under Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea on Saturday after a promising spell, albeit limited in opportunities, while on loan in the Championship with Leicester City.

Casadei is considered to be one of the most promising up-and-coming midfielders in Italy’s ranks. Chelsea saw enough in him to pay Inter a €15m fee plus €5m in bonuses when he was just 19 years of age in the summer of 2022.

At international level, Casadei starred for the Azzurrini in their run to the U-20 World Cup final in the summer of 2023, providing seven goals from seven matches to claim both the competition’s Golden Boot and Golden Ball awards.

A few weeks after Casadei’s personal success on the youth international stage, it was confirmed that he would join promotion-hopefuls Leicester on loan in the Championship for the 2023-24 season. This would be his second experience of the English second division after a loan spell with Reading in the second half of the 2022-23 campaign.

Before Chelsea announced the termination of Casadei’s loan on Friday, he had made 22 appearances from a possible 25 in the league. Leicester have played 27 so far, but Casadei joined two games into the season.

There were also three further outings across the League Cup and FA Cup.

However, of Casadei’s 22 Championship appearances, only eight of them came as a starter. Serious competition for places in the Foxes’ midfield is the main reason for that.

Following the team’s relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2022-23 season, Leicester were able to keep hold of a strong cohort of players from the previous year.

And, through the sales of James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, Timothy Castagne and the departures of Youri Tielemans and Caglar Soyuncu, Leicester had plenty of funds to play with in the summer transfer window by Championship standards.

Focussing specifically on the midfield, Leicester were still left with Wilfred Ndidi, a man with 192 Premier League appearances and 54 Nigeria caps to his name, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who earned 31 top flight outings in 2022-23.

Harry Winks was also brought in after his loan spell with Sampdoria and so, Casadei’s opportunities were always going to be limited.

Still, Casadei began life at the King Power Stadium in emphatic fashion, netting a 92nd minute winner on his debut against Cardiff City, just half an hour after his introduction from the bench.

He got his second goal of the season, again off the bench, just before Christmas in a 3-0 win over Rotherham.

Overall, Casadei’s performances in a Leicester shirt have been promising, particularly for a 21-year-old playing in a division renowned for its tough physicality.

Experience playing for a team at the top of the table, who have won 21 of their 27 league matches so far this season, will also stand Casadei in good stead heading into the future.

He now returns to Chelsea, where it is understood he has already begun training with the first team. Pochettino reportedly believes Casadei has an important role to play for the West Londoners in years to come.