2 years ago
Chelsea is preparing another approach for midfielder Cesare Casadei, 19, with Inter Milan now expected to receive a fee of around £12m.
The highly rated box-to-box player is yet to make his senior professional debut but is considered one of the brightest young talents at the San Siro.
Chelsea has been keeping tabs on the youngster, who they see as the first academy deal they can develop with their first team as part of a succession plan for N'Golo Kante and Jorginho, whose contracts expire in June 2023.
They have rejected two bids under £10m and are opposed to the option to include a buy-back clause in the deal.
The aggressive academy deal is part of youth development boss Neil Bath's "Vision 2030" strategy, which aims to reflect first-team ambitions within its structure.
It is believed that the new owners, led by Todd Boily and Behdad Egbali, are fully committed to the vision and want to take it as far as possible.
Chelsea's academy re-rankings come after a poor season at the youth level which saw the development team nearly be relegated from Premier League 2.
It is also a response to Brexit, which has reduced the pool of players available to British academies, leading to a scramble for European talent or older British births. The aggressive spending also saw the signings of Southampton goalkeeper Eddie Beach and Arsenal's Omari Hutchinson.
That comes on the back of £165m spent on the first-team squad, with Wesley Fofana of Leicester, Frenkie de Jong of Barcelona and Denzel Dumfries of Inter Milan remaining on the club's shortlist.
Per Chelsea's first Premier League game against Everton, you can clearly see from the face of Thomas Tuchel and co; that they really need a lot of new players to beef up the current ones or else it will be difficult for them to challenge for the tittle.
Chelsea will like to start to plan on how to replace both Jorginho and Kante.
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