Is he any good? Anyone seen him play?
A brief scout report on Chelsea's box-crashing midfielder, one of the leading talents of Italian football's emerging generations.
www.scoutedftbl.com
First and foremost, Casadei is a big boy. I’ve seen him listed in a few places at 6’1”, but it would not shock me if he is a bit taller than that. Regardless, that’s a good size for a midfielder, and he’s pretty robust both in and out of possession too.
His off the ball work is very impressive. He can eat up the ground quickly in defensive transitions and defend out wide effectively too, as well as showing good lateral mobility and agility to defend against ball-carriers.
Casadei’s physical capabilities are a significant weapon in possession too. His ability to crash the box has been a constant feature since his time in Inter’s Primavera team, and it was once again highlighted in the Under-20 World Cup. He dominates in the air, with a great leap, sense of timing, and then has the size and intent to beat his marker to smash headers.
The Italian can be a bit of a mixed bag in possession. He excels when he has his head up and is able to play directly as a short passer and ball-carrier; he glides through space when everything is moving towards goal, but struggles a bit more receiving the ball with pressure on his back, and always seems to need to take one or two touches too many to move the ball on in these situations, often slowing down the play as a consequence.
It’s pretty clear that his future does not lie as a deep-lying six or as a pivot; Casadei is clearly in that goal-scoring eight mould. Coaches should be encouraged to get him picking up possession in or approaching the final third as much as possible.
He always seems much more comfortable dribbling and combining in these spaces than he does further away from goal where players feel more comfortable pressing aggressively further away from their goal.
