Antonio Conte's Napoli are preparing a bid to sign out-of-favour Chelsea midfielder Cesare Casedei. The Italy Under 21s international has struggled for regular game time under Enzo Maresca this season.

Casedei, who spent the first half of the 2023/24 campaign on loan at Maresca's Leicester, returned to Stamford Bridge last January and made 11 Premier League appearances at the back end of last term.

There was hope that the 21-year-old would be handed more opportunities after reuniting with Maresca in the summer, but it hasn't been the case so far. In fact, Casedei has started just FOUR times across all competitions this season. He has played six matches in total, with none of those coming in the Premier League.

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It has been a disappointing start to the season for Casedei and he has been linked with a move away from Chelsea in the January transfer window. Leicester have been tipped to re-sign the former Inter Milan man, while clubs in Italy, including Monza, Torino and Lazio, are said to be interested in a winter move.

And now, Napoli are the latest Serie A team to enter the frame. According to Fabrizio Romano, ex-Chelsea boss Conte is keen to bring Casedei back to Italy and Napoli are drawing up an offer to sign him. It's added that Napoli's bid will be for a permanent transfer with Chelsea requesting a sell-on clause.

Chelsea signed Casedei from Inter in 2022 for an initial £12.6million. He spent the second half of his first season in English football at Reading and moved to Leicester in the following summer looking to gain more senior experience. He helped Leicester enjoy a fine start to the 2023/24 season, scoring some important goals.

However, the Blues decided to recall Casedei in January 2024 as Mauricio Pochettino attempted to fit him back into his first-team squad. Casedei, who has a contract to run at Chelsea until 2028, was an ever-present in the Chelsea contingent for the remainder of that season, although he didn't end up starting a game.

It became clear that Casedei was behind the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Romeo Lavia, Moises Caicedo and even Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the pecking order at Stamford Bridge across the summer, and he has been limited to appearances in the Conference League and the Carabao Cup so far this season.