Cesare Casadei offered a latest reminder of his talents to incoming Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino with yet another memorable display at the Under-20 World Cup.
Captain Casadei is enjoying a quite incredible tournament out in Argentina, having scored six goals already to propel Italy into a semi-final clash with South Korea.
However, it took the 20-year-old just 14 minutes to make that seven - with two assists to boot - in Thursday’s last-four showdown at the Estadio Unico Diego Armando Maradona in La Plata.
Casadei has already become Italy’s all-time leading scorer at the U20 World Cup as he guided them to the final for the first time, but he is now also his country’s top scorer at any single global tournament.
He will hope to continue his incredible streak in Sunday’s final, when the Azzurri - who beat South Korea 2-1 thanks to a late free-kick from Udinese’s Simone Pafundi after Lee Seung-won’s penalty had cancelled out that Casadei opener - take on Uruguay, who beat Israel 1-0 in the earlier kick-off courtesy of Anderson Duarte’s second-half effort.
Casadei will hope that Pochettino is taking notice of his considerable exploits in South America as he bids to prove himself worthy of a first-team berth at Chelsea sooner rather than later.
He was signed by the Blues from Inter Milan last summer for £12million plus £4m in add-ons, brought in alongside the likes of Carney Chukwuemeka, Andrey Santos and Gabriel Slonina as a potential star of the future during a renewed youth push under new ownership.
After impressing at youth level, Casadei gained vital experience of first-team football on loan at Reading during the second half of the 2022/23 campaign, scoring once in 15 appearances but unable to help stave off relegation from the Championship.
Casadei has yet to make his senior debut for Chelsea, with suggestions that they want him to gain more experience during another loan spell next season.
However, you have to wonder whether that stance may yet change as Pochettino - a known proponent of giving chances to young players - no doubt keeps a watchful eye on his incredible World Cup run.
