Cesare Casadei believes his early return from loan in 2023/24 was proven to be the right decision, but only because the lessons learned while away allowed him to settle in England and prepared him to make the step up at Chelsea.
The young Italian moved to Chelsea and England in the summer of 2022, having impressed in the youth system of Inter Milan in his homeland, and initially linked up with our Academy, featuring regularly for the Under-21s.
That was followed by the next stage of his development, with a pair of loans in the Championship at Reading and then Leicester City. However, halfway through the second of those, Cesare Casadei was asked if he was keen to cut short his spell at the King Power Stadium and return to Chelsea in January, to add to our midfield options during an ongoing injury crisis.
That came with no guarantees of playing time at Stamford Bridge, whereas he had been a regular starter in a Leicester side which would go on to win the Championship title, but looking back Casadei insists there was no doubt in his mind when making the decision.
‘I was really happy to be here in the second half of the season,’ said the 21-year-old. ‘Chelsea is my team and that was my dream, to be able to play for Chelsea. Obviously to go on loan is part of the journey, but my target was always to come back here and play for Chelsea.
‘They asked me if I was happy to come back and I said “yes” straight away because to come back here to Chelsea was my target. My goal was to be able to be here, to train every day in this team.
‘When they called me to ask if I wanted to come back early, I wasn’t really expecting that call. I was just doing my journey with Leicester and I was just trying to be focused on that and not think about other things, but when they called me I was really happy and really excited.’
Casadei went on to make 11 Premier League appearances for the Blues in 2023/24 – including a tough introduction on his debut away at Liverpool in February, which left him with mixed emotions – to add to the 25 games he played for Leicester during the first half of the season.
However, he believes that even if he had not featured at all for the Blues, he still would have benefited from the return, just by working with such talented team-mates at Cobham on a daily basis.
‘There are so many really good players here, so I knew that I would be able to learn a lot, even if I didn’t get a lot of time in games. Still, training with them every day makes me improve, for sure.
‘It was a great moment to play my first game for Chelsea, even though that was probably not the best game we played, when I made my Premier League debut against Liverpool.
‘We lost 4-1 and I came on in a situation where we were already losing and it was difficult, but I still learned a lot and the atmosphere was amazing, because the chance to play in a stadium like Anfield doesn’t happen every day. So I was very happy.’
His eagerness to return to Chelsea doesn’t mean he isn’t grateful for the time he spent on loan at Reading and Leicester, though. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Explaining why he felt he was ready to join the men’s squad at Cobham, Casadei underlines how the spells away gaining experience and becoming familiar with life in England helped put him in the position where he was confident saying yes when the option of an early return arose.
‘It was experience of life as much as anything,’ he continues. ‘Football is more or less the same in all the world, but to go to another country and learn another language is difficult. I didn’t know anyone here so it was not that easy, but going on loan helped me to grow as a player and as a person as well.
‘In terms of football, I learned a lot because Reading and then Leicester were my first experiences in real football, between the adults. I had to be in a group of adults, not young guys any more, so it helped me a lot because there is another tempo in the game, another intensity.
‘That’s why it is important to go on loan before you start playing for a team like Chelsea, because you need experience in the way you play and train and everything else around it.’
One particular lesson from his time on loan stands our for the Italy Under-21 international. Throughout his time in Academy football he caught the eye for the way his strength aided him in bursting out of midfield, or shielding the ball in possession.
However, stepping up to senior football, the increased physicality of opponents meant he could no longer rely on that so much, requiring a change of approach which he believes has improved his overall game.
‘That was probably the biggest difference between young football and adult football. Most of the time in the Academy, if you are already big, in a lot of situations you can just get out of it with your physique, with your body, but in adult football you have to find a different way to get out of many situations with the ball.
‘So I had to start working on particular things, on the little details, because before I didn’t need that, but on loan I started to understand that those details could make the difference, especially in adult football.’
Of course, it is not just on the pitch that Casadei has had to adapt since arriving in England, with a new culture to immerse himself in.
He admits some things have been easier to embrace than others. Given the trademark Italian pride and passion when it comes to food, combined with Casadei growing up with parents who ran a family restaurant in his home town of Ravenna, it is no surprise that it took a little longer to come around to English cuisine.
Thankfully, it turns out he is pretty handy in the kitchen himself, meaning he can always whip up a family recipe for a taste of home when he starts to miss it.
‘I’ve gotten used to English food now,’ he reflects with a laugh. ‘Before, in the first few months, it was not so easy for me, because as an Italian person I am used to eating a certain kind of food.
‘It was the same with the weather, as even that was something different for me in England, but those are all things you will get used to when you are living in a country and being in that country every day, so now it’s all good.
‘I’m pretty good at making Italian food because I’ve always been used to cooking at home. Because my parents had a restaurant they had to work a lot, especially in the summer, so they were not at home for dinner and I had to cook for myself. So I’m pretty good now.
‘I also lived on my own in Milan for two years, so I was already used to that when I came here, but sometimes if I need to know something for a recipe I can still ask my mum!’
No doubt his proud parents were always happy to get his call while watching him take his first steps in the Premier League with Chelsea from back home in Italy last season, just as Casadei welcomed the call to return to west London in January and show what he had learned on loan.
