Former Catania player Mariano Izco, who was involved in Cesare Casadei‘s Chelsea transfer last summer, explained why the young midfielder has not been promoted to the first team at Stamford Bridge.
Casadei joined Chelsea from Inter Milan on a six-year deal in the summer transfer window for a reported fee of £13m (€15m) plus £4.4m (€5m) in potential future add-ons.
Based on the reported price, many expected the 19-year-old to be part of the first-team setup right away.
However, Casadei has so far only been involved with the development squad, having racked up four goals and an assist from nine appearances in the PL2 and the EFL trophy so far.
In comparison, Carney Chukwuemeka, who also arrived at Chelsea last summer, already made three Premier League appearances as a sub this season.
According to Izco, the former Catania captain and an aspiring football agent who had a small involvement in Casadei’s transfer, Chelsea did not want to rush the young midfielder’s adaptation to a new country.
“In the meantime he will learn the language,” he told Tuttomercatoweb about Casadei’s path at Chelsea.
“They don’t want him to burn out.
“He has trained with the first team. They want to develop him.
“And then he plays in Chelsea [first team], that’s the dream.”
As Izco pointed out, Chelsea likely want Casadei to get used to a new environment without having too much pressure, at least for now.
His goalscoring ability from midfield may have been useful for the first team, but allowing him to improve for another year in the academy could prove crucial to his development.
Chukwuemeka, on the other hand, had already had several Premier League appearances under his belt before he arrived at Chelsea, so adaptation was always going to be less a problem for him.
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