Chelsea heading for awful De Bruyne repeat

Chelsea’s transfer policy over the last few years has been to buy young players who have bags of potential to help them in the future. At first, it was tough going for the Blues, who finished sixth and 12th in the two seasons that followed their takeover, and this new transfer policy.

However, things have taken a positive turn this campaign under new boss Enzo Maresca. Chelsea are now in second place, four points behind league leaders Liverpool and two points clear of Arsenal in second. Their young players are certainly having an impact.

Given the quality and depth of the Blues squad now, it does mean some of their youngsters don’t get a look in.

Serie A sides target young Chelsea star

21-year-old Italian midfielder Cesare Casadei is a highly rated youngster. His move to Stamford Bridge came in August 2022, joining from Italian giants Inter. He cost Chelsea £12.6m up front, with an additional £4.2m in potential add-ons.

Sadly, he has not really been given much of an opportunity during his time with the Blues so far. Casadei has made just 17 appearances for the club, playing a total of 495 minutes. Six of those games have come this term, with none being in the Premier League.

Despite a tough time at Stamford Bridge, the youngster has enjoyed some spells on loan away from the club. He spent time at Reading and played for Leicester City for the first half of last term, under Maresca.

He impressed for the Foxes, playing 25 times in all competitions, scoring three times and grabbing two assists along the way. Two of those goal involvements came against Millwall in the FA Cup third round.

Despite the “outstanding” talent the midfielder has, as football talent scout Jacek Kulig said, he could well leave the Bridge soon. According to reports in Italy, a return to Serie A is on the cards, with Monza offering a loan deal and Lazio a loan deal with a buy option, which would see the midfielder leave permanently.

The news comes just days after it was revealed that Champions League regulars Juventus were also in the picture to sign him.

Losing Casadei would be a real blow for Chelsea given his talent, and could a repeat of another transfer which they surely regretted.

The transfer repeat Chelsea will hope to avoid

Chelsea fans may well look back on Kevin De Bruyne’s time at the club and wonder what could have happened if they had given him a chance to shine. As we now know, he is one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history, winning six league titles in England, but things did not work out for him at Chelsea.

The Belgian attacking midfielder played just nine times for the Blues, all of which came in the 2013/14 season. It is fair to say there was no love lost between De Bruyne and former manager Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese manager explained the midfielder “didn’t want to wait” for a chance at Chelsea, explaining that he didn’t “have the patience to be calm and to wait for the right moment” for a chance.

So, two seasons after the midfielder went on loan to Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, he moved back to Germany on a permanent deal, joining Wolfsburg in 2014. Manchester City then paid £55m for him one year later, and the rest is history.

Looking back on it, it was obviously a mistake to sell De Bruyne, rather than loaning him out and trying to persevere. He has gone on to play 397 times for City, scoring 101 goals and grabbing 171 assists. Chelsea fans must be thinking, what could have been if he stayed?

The similarities between this situation and Casadei’s current circumstances are incredible. Like the Belgian, he is a creative midfielder who has excelled on loan, but struggled to break into the Blues’ first team.

This is surely a deal Chelsea will want to tread lightly on. Losing De Bruyne ten years ago has proven to be a big blow, given how good he became. It is perhaps not a risk they want to take on Casadei, and Maresca might well decide to give him the chance in the first team to show what he can do, rather than lose him in January.