Italian journalist Alessandro Vocalelli believes that if Inter decide to cash in on Cesare Casadei this summer, they would be risking the kind of situation that occurred when they let Nicolo Zaniolo leave for Roma and then saw his value skyrocket.
Writing in his column in yesterday’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, Vocalellit drew a comparison between the two former Inter Primavera midfielders, one of whom left the club and one who is linked with an exit this summer.
Casadei has no shortage of admirers both in and outside of Italy off the back of an outstanding campaign with the Primavera team last season, although the Nerazzurri have made clear that they would only let him leave on loan or else demand a buyback option in a sale.
This would appear to make Inter’s deep reluctance to permanently lose control of the 19-year-old’s future clear, and Vocalelli feels that this is a lesson that they’ve learned from bitter experience.
“The fact is that Chelsea, on this basis and after several scouting missions, decided to go on the attack for him,” he writes of Casadei. “They’ve made an offer that Inter have (rightly) rejected for now.”
He continues that “An emblematic story is worthy of our consideration. The first, and more banal, is that Inter – not even in the face of another push – must not allow themselves to be tempted.”
He argues that this is “In order not to risk making the same mistake already made with Zaniolo, superficially included in the transfer of Nainggolan from the Giallorossi to the Nerazzurri.”
Vocalelli notes that “Everyone says that Casadei has the talent to be a real top prospect, and depriving themselves of him today would probably mean adding more regrets and remorse to the Nerazzurri’s history.”
“But, beyond the easy suggestion to Inter not to let him leave, the project of foreign clubs to focus on young people – as long as they are of the right quality – is striking – and Casadei’s story is just one example,” he points out.
