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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Verri

Chelsea midfielder Cesare Casadei told to push for January move by Italy manager

Chelsea midfielder Cesare Casadei has been told it could be necessary to push for a January move in search of regular first-team football.

The 21-year-old arrived at Stamford Bridge two years ago after signing from Inter Milan, but has had limited involved for the Blues, instead spending spells on loan at Reading and Leicester.

He was at the Foxes for the first half of last season under Enzo Maresca, which would have raised Casadei’s hopes of more opportunities at Stamford Bridge after Maresca then took charge of the Blues in the summer.

However, Casadei’s only appearances so far this season have come against Barrow in the Carabao Cup and Gent in the Europa Conference League. He has failed to even make the squad for five of Chelsea’s seven Premier League matches.

Casadei has spent the international break with the Italy U21 squad, scoring against the Republic of Ireland earlier this week, and manager Carmine Nunziata revealed he has held talks with the midfielder on the need to be playing more at club level.

“Last year Cesare had a good first part with Leicester, then he went to Chelsea and played little,” the Italian U21 boss told Rai Radio 1 Sport.

“This year they kept him there, I advised him to see how it goes until January, otherwise it’s right to look around for another solution.

“The important thing is that the boys play. If they find a team in Italy, even better.

“But the experience abroad is also formative. For example, after playing in Switzerland, I found [Mattia] Zanotti to have improved a lot and grown a lot.”

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