Chelsea star advised to leave in January transfer window by national team manager

midfielder Cesare Casadei has been urged to leave Stamford Bridge in the January transfer window by his Italy Under-21s manager.

The 21-year-old arrived in a €20 million (£16.8m) deal from Inter in 2022 but only made his senior debut for Chelsea in January following loan spells at Reading and , who were managed by Enzo Maresca last season.

Casadei turned down the chance to leave Chelsea on loan in the and is yet to play in the this season, with his only appearances so far coming against Barrow in the Carabao Cup and in the Europa Conference League tie against Gent.

Earlier this week, the midfielder scored the opening goal for Italy Under-21s in their European Championship qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.

And now the team’s head coach, Carmine Nunziata, believes Casadei will need to leave Chelsea in the next transfer window if he fails to secure more playing time.

‘Last year Cesare had a good first part with Leicester, then he went to Chelsea and played little,’ Nunziata 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.’

Speaking earlier this month, Maresca praised Casadei for his improvement and insisted the midfielder ‘is going in the right direction’.

‘Cesare played very good against Barrow and played even better against Gent, I’m very happy with the way he’s playing,’ Maresca said.

‘I had Cesare last year and he was playing in a different position. This year we are using him like a holding midfielder.

‘The reason why is that football goes in the direction where probably in the middle you need a physical player and Cesare off the ball is very big, strong physically, helps us when we want to press.

‘On the ball, he is improving a lot, he played one-touch most of the time so we are very happy. It’s the same for the rest, there are many things he can do better, but the good thing is he is going in the right direction.’

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