Why Cesare Casadei is the player to catapult Leicester City back into the Premier League
Leicester City’s Gen Z has witnessed a slew of conspicuous midfielders donning the famous Foxes shirt over the last decade plus.
From Andy King, Danny Drinkwater, and bona fide legend Marc Albrighton to the recent heroes in James Maddison, Youri Tielemans and Dennis Praet, the Foxes have been blessed with technically gifted, combative, goalscoring midfielders.
After a shocking relegation, freeing up wage bills was imperative, however, more importantly, the club that prides itself on clever recruitment and profit-making transfers had to reinforce its ranks in midfield.
Enter the flamboyant Enzo Maresca, with brilliant skills in the market and a modern-day school of thought football coach who was the understudy to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
His influence is set to help Leicester to achieve plenty of signings, perhaps none more important than Chelsea loanee Cesare Casadei.
The Blues signed Casadei from Inter Milan in 2022 on a bumper six-year contract, for a reported £12.6m fee that could rise to about £17m with add-ons. The Italian youth international is one of the brightest young talents in his country, if not all of Europe.
Casadei was seen training with the Inter senior team many a time, while his chartbusting performances in the U-20 World Cup (seven goals from as many matches as a midfielder) further saw his stocks grow.
“I feel really good. I’m really happy to be here, I’m excited and I can’t wait to get started. Obviously, Leicester is a big team so I’m here to win and to do as well as possible to fight and to work hard for this team,” said Leicester’s new number 7 after signing a one-year long deal.
For a midfielder with 15 games for Reading in the second half of last season as his only experience in English football, it’s a bold bet to state that he will be the fulcrum to Leicester’s fortunes this season.
Such is the talent at Maresca’s disposal, that one can simply go on ticking boxes while watching Casadei run the races in midfield – very much like his manager.
Consistently bombing down the center of the pitch and finding pockets to run into makes Casadei a dynamic prospect. His pace with the ball is that of a winger’s, while his center of gravity helps him turn opponents into practice cones.
Italian football has always been peppered with talent in midfield, but Casadei is a unique blend of defensive skill as well as someone capable of racking up astounding attacking returns.
From an off-the-ball point of view, Casadei loves to hunt in a pack. He’s often one of three or four players rushing the opposition and forcing them into an erroneous moment. A press machine, who is also patient with his reading of the game, the 20-year-old fits into Leicester’s brand of football seamlessly.
Add his speed and balance in turnover of possession to the abilities, and you get a player capable of destroying defenses from deeper positions, even if it’s a case of a counterattack.
What probably sets him most apart from the rest of his peers is his ability to find the back of the net. He’s one of those talents who has a knack for finding dangerous positions on the edge of the box, or artistically finishes a move that he started. He could turn past you and break between the lines like a number 10 in the blink of an eye.
Playing like a man amongst boys in the World Cup, the recently departed Italy manager Roberto Mancini noticed his stunning displays as well. “Cesare Casadei is really good. He had already impressed me during a stage at Coverciano. He went to England and played in the Championship a tough and formative league, almost like the Premier League,” Mancini remarked.
Versatility is, finally, a welcome aspect of his game. Not just to function in various midfield roles, but also to morph into a third center-back role in possession. His ball-carrying acumen, combined with the eye-of-a-needle pass making ability is a vicious 1-2 punch.
Maresca could deploy him off the bench initially, in a 4-4-2 or as a partner to Harry Winks and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in a three-man midfield setup.
The youngster’s talent was on full display in Leicester City’s 2-1 victory over Cardiff City yesterday. With the game seemingly headed for a draw, Casadei scored the go ahead marker at 90+2 to give the Foxes the full 3pts, leaving the Cardiff faithful in a state of disbelief.
Casadei is far from the finished product, but he possesses all the makings of a coming-of-age superstar ready to light up the Championship.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Jimmy Baikovicius. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.