Chelsea are weighing up whether or not to match Inter Milan’s demands for Cesare Casadei as they look to make the teenage midfielder their sixth signing of the summer under the new Todd Boehly ownership.
The Blues have already recruited Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella and Kalidou Koulibaly to strengthen their first eleven, while they have also looked to the future in tying up deals for the highly-rated youngsters Carney Chukwuemeka from Aston Villa and Gabriel Slonina from Chicago Fire, with the latter joining at the end of the MLS season.
The addition of Casadei would be in keeping with the latter, with Chelsea’s current midfield pairing of Jorginho and N’Golo Kante both out of contract in 12 months time. So far, the Blues have seen two £10m bids turned down for the Italian maestro, and have been given the impression that £12m would be enough to seal the deal, according to the London Evening Standard.
19-year-old Casadei is yet to make his senior debut, but has played over 100 games for Inter’s youth sides, racking up 39 goals in the process.
Fofana Chelsea’s last chance
Meanwhile, Thomas Tuchel and co. are preparing a third offer for Wesley Fofana, having seen a £70m offer turned down last week.
As per the Evening Standard, Fofana ‘is the last chance to sign a defender who matches both the quality and profile needed to take Thomas Tuchel’s side to the next level’, having seen moves for Jules Kounde, Matthijs de Ligt, Nathan Ake and Presnel Kimpembe all fall through this summer.
Fofana himself is keen on the move, and sees it as an opportunity to gain first team opportunities at a much higher level, as well as playing Champions League football in a bid to make the France squad for the World Cup in November.
