Chelsea secure ‘emerging talent’ as Inter Milan prospect snubs late interest

Chelsea have fought off late interest from French club Nice to secure the signing of Inter Milan’s highly-rated midfielder Cesare Casadei.

The 19-year-old has penned a six-year contract at Stamford Bridge and the completion of the deal brings an end to a prolonged chase to secure his services for the Blues.

Described by Chelsea as ‘a complete midfielder’, Casadei has become a star at youth level with Inter and helped Italy reach the semi-final of the European Under-19 Championship this summer.

After spending time in the youth ranks at Cervia and Cesena, Cadasei joined Inter in 2018 and helped the Serie A giants become national Under-17 champions during his first year at the club.

He has proven to have an eye for goal over the last two seasons, scoring 27 goals in 69 appearances for the Nerazzurri’s Under-19s.

Cadasei trained with the Inter first-team on a regular basis but failed to make a Serie A, but was an unused substitute for a 2-0 home defeat against Sassuolo in February.

His progress will now continue in London after the completion of a £12.6million move to Chelsea and the Head of youth development Neil Bath is confident he can succeed at Stamford Bridge.

He told the club website: “Cesare is a player we have tracked for some time and we are delighted that he has now agreed to join Chelsea, where he will initially strengthen our Under-21s squad.

“He is another exciting emerging talent who we are looking forward to seeing develop and progress further as he breaks into senior football in the coming years.”

Cadasei will find one familar face at Chelsea after coming up against Blues new boy Carney Chukwuemeka during Italy’s 2-1 defeat against England in this summer’s European Under-19 Championship semi-final.