Luciano Spalletti is the new Italy coach, building up to his first tournament in the job, and he today mentioned Chelsea man Cesare Casadei in his press conference, hinting that the midfielder would have been among those given a shot in the senior team, had the U21 side not had important qualifiers to get through.
““We would’ve’ had Riccardo Calafiori here, but the Under-21s are playing two qualifiers and we have friendlies, so am I supposed to weaken them with all the players at my disposal? The same goes for Giovanni Fabbian, Willy Gnonto and Cesare Casadei,” the former Roma and Napoli boss explained in quotes picked up by Football Italia.
It’s a nice little boost for Casadei, who must be gutted that his increasingly impressive loan spell with Leicester was cut short in January by Chelsea, who have since only given him a handful of minutes.
He is a long way off getting regular Premier League action as it stands, let alone playing for Italy, but it must be good to know your national team coach is watching from afar. Casadei’s career highlights so far have been with Italian youth sides, so it’s no wonder the U21 side want their key man in action.
