€15m and 40% sell on – Chelsea’s terms attract top La Liga team and a third Italian side to midfielder chase | OneFootball

Chelsea have really struggled to get deals over the line this month.

They’ve had plenty of time to prepare for what was always going to be a busy January, yet with less than a week to go in the window they’ve managed just 2 loan recalls, and one loan out from the senior players. Even then, Renato Veiga’s Juventus switch was only concluded last night.

Another deal to Serie A is dragging on even more. Cesare Casadei looked like he would be completing a move to Lazio days ago, but it’s still dragging on. In fact, according to the Athletic’s deal sheet released today, things are getting more complicated.

Despite others hinting that the Lazio deal was agreed and just a matter of time, Simon Johnson writes that two Italian clubs (presumably Lazio and Torino) “failed to agree a price up until now,” leading a third Italian club and “a La Liga side” who are “near the top of the table” to join the race.

Chelsea are asking €15m for the midfielder, who they paid a similar amount for in 2022, but want a sell on clause of around 35 to 40%.

Chelsea need to seal deal and move on as January enters final phase

Cesare Casadei passing the ball in a Conference League match he started. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Perhaps a deal was almost in place and these new additions to the race just allowed us to up our demands a little? Whatever the reason, it’s not helping the player or Enzo Maresca as he looks to plan ahead for the rest of this season. Fiddling around with this deal is also presumably distracting the sporting directors from focusing on other, potentially bigger deals.

Let’s get it done and move on – there’s only a week of window left and there are some major issues to be addressed.