€20m will tempt Chelsea sale – and may trigger loan recall if Blues create gap in their squad | OneFootball

We’ve heard for a while leading up to this January that Cesare Casadei could be on his way out, and that made a lot of sense.

After staying put in the summer, the young Italian hasn’t had many starts outside the Conference League, and after some patchy loans he’s heading into his mid 20s with a desperate need to play week in week out somewhere.

It’s not going to be at Chelsea, and the fact that the Conference League group stage is over means even fewer chances for him in the second half of the season. A departure now while we can get a good fee for him, and while there is plenty of demand, makes sense for him and for us. Still just 21, his impressive showings for the Italy youth sides as well as good moments on loan and in his cameos this season mean there’s plenty of interest – Torino are the strongest linked, and are apparently bargaining over the fee.

Chelsea are holding out for €20m, with the Bulls offering €12m. As always, they will likely meet in the middle with plenty of clauses to bridge the gap.

Casadei sale makes sense – but Chelsea will be left short in the middle

Cesare Casadei passing the ball. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

It makes sense for Chelsea to cash in, but it will remove another body from a very thin midfield. The issue is that Casadei’s strengths are more in attacking the box than controlling the game from deep. If he could offer that, he would have played far more in bigger games as a Moises Caicedo backup.

But it does mean we’re likely to be in the strange position of selling a player from a position where we actually need to strengthen. We wonder if there are any loan recall plans in motion should Casadei go?