Napoli Surpass the Competition for Chelsea Talent | OneFootball

Napoli have barged into the race to acquire Cesare Casadei from Chelsea, who was reportedly close to Torino in previous days. The midfielder would like to head back to Italy. The Granata haven’t been able to come to terms with the Blues for now, Sky reports.

The Partenopei are in advanced talks but need to seal the deal in a hurry, as the talent is in demand. Previous reports suggested the Premier League giants wanted €12/15M and that there was some wriggle room about the formula.

Napoli had been tracking Jacopo Fazzini before turning their attention to Casadei. The Empoli talent might prefer joining Lazio. Chelsea signed the starlet for €15M from Inter in 2022. He stayed put after loan spells at Reading and Leicester City, but he has logged just six appearances so far, almost exclusively in the Conference League.

The Azzurri officialized their first January deals on Monday, swapping out Elia Caprile for Simone Scuffet on loans. Michael Folorunsho will join Fiorentina later this week. They might go for a pair in the midfield. They are keen on Udinese’s Martin Payero too, Alfredo Pedullà relays.

Our Take on Napoli and Casadei

Antonio Conte must have been given some reassurances about the reinforcements to sign off on the departures, so they could act relatively quickly. They might have realized they wouldn’t have been able to change Fazzini’s mind and moved on rather than being stubborn. The ex-Nerazzurri prodigy is more physical and versatile and thus a better fit, then it remains to be seen how much he’ll play since their starters are elite. He should mull it before accepting.