Italian football is currently experiencing a golden generation of central midfielders coming through the system.
Last summer’s Euros saw Marco Verratti, Jorginho and Nicolo Barella drive the nation to glory, while Roberto Mancini’s side now have young talents such as Sandro Tonali, Manuel Locatelli and Davide Frattesi to call upon.
And the next one off the productive conveyor belt is Inter Milan’s Cesare Casadei.
Chelsea have agreed an initial £12.6million deal for Inter Milan starlet Cesare Casadei
Chelsea have agreed an initial £12.6million deal with Simone Inzaghi’s side for the 19-year-old, and offered the Italian youth international a six-year-deal.
With that in mind, Sportsmail takes a look at Casadei and weighs up what he would offer Chelsea in midfield should he be snapped up this summer …
Who is he?
Casadei is just 19 and is yet to make his senior professional debut which raises questions around all the hype.
However, he is viewed as one of the hottest prospects in Italian football and Chelsea have extensively scouted the midfielder all summer, with Thomas Tuchel reportedly ‘bewitched’ by his talents.
The Blues had a £6m bid turned down for Casadei earlier this summer, with the Stamford Bridge outfit now finally meeting Inter’s asking price after the midfielder trained with Inzaghi’s first team throughout pre-season.
He initially began his career at Cervia before excelling in the Cesena youth team which alerted Inter.
Casadei is yet to make his senior professional debut but has trained with the Inter first team
Thomas Tuchel is reportedly a big admirer of Casadei and Chelsea have chased him all summer
They subsequently signed him as a 15-year-old and he has since emerged as one of their most exciting talents.
He has impressed so much at Inter that he was included in the Guardian’s prestigious ‘Next Generation: 60 of the best young talents in world football’ in 2020, while he is considered the jewel of the Nerazzuri’s youth side.
Casadei has been unfortunate that the Black and Blues’ midfield has been so strong and dominant in recent years, as the midfielder is likely to have made his senior debut for most other Serie A clubs by now.
The 19-year-old has instead dominated the Italian Primavera championship for Inter, the country’s youth league, and scored 14 times while adding four assists in 30 league appearances last year.
At youth level for Inter, he has scored 40 goals in just 105 games,…