Chelsea are ready to brutally axe a young player frozen out by Enzo Maresca as early as the January transfer window as they look to continue their squad overhaul at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea's squad log-jam still an issue despite amazing form
Chelsea have made a strong start to the Premier League season, but they are still battling with their squad size as they look to put together a challenge for the Premier League’s top four. Much was made of their “bomb squad”, which saw several players left out of first team training and told to find moves away in the final weeks of the summer transfer window.
Maresca assured the media that it was far more simple than it looked from the outside: “I am not working with 42 players. I am working with 21 players. The other 15-20 players are training apart. I don’t see them. It’s not a mess like it looks from outside. Absolutely not”.
Some, like David Fofana, managed to move away, but others have been stuck in limbo, with Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka among those who have since been reintegrated into first team training after missing out on exits.
Chelsea’s bomb squad players still at the club
Ben Chilwell
Deivid Washington
Harvey Vale
Carney Chukwuemeka
Lucas Bergstrom
Cesare Casadei
Speaking after the win against Brighton, Maresca seemed to suggest that gametime was unlikely for either, saying of Chukwuemeka: “We decided at the beginning of the season it’s probably better [for him] to leave and go somewhere. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. He’s our player. He had some minutes the other day, but today [on Saturday] he wasn’t involved. Hopefully we can give him more minutes.”
Now, he appears ready to axe yet another member of the bomb squad.
Milan chase Chelsea midfielder
That is according to reports coming out of Italy, which claim that the Blues are ready to cash in on Italy U21 international Cesare Casadei as early as the January transfer window. The midfielder was part of Enzo Maresca’s set up at Leicester City before his loan was cut short by Chelsea in January, and he has featured sparingly.
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Former Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino dubbed the Italian a “very good” profile of player during his time at Stamford Bridge, and he regularly featured for Leicester last season under Maresca. But now, Milan Live report that the Blues “would be willing to sell” the midfielder as early as January, with Casadei having changed agents in move that may help facilitate a departure.
Signed for £12m in 2022, the midfielder still has four years left to run on his £7,500 a week deal at Stamford Bridge, and it is added that any departure would likely be a permanent one. Though he featured against Barrow in the EFL cup, the arrival of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall over the summer has pushed him further down the pecking order, with all of Enzo Fernandez, Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo fighting it out for a spot in midfield.
A return to Italy could be just what is needed to reignite his career, while the Blues would be unlikely to take too much of a loss on the 21-year-old were he to leave permanently.