Enzo Maresca has now revealed how he reacted to the shock departure of Cesare Casadei.
Leicester City signed Cesare Casadei on a season-long loan from Chelsea in the summer.
The Italian midfielder had been due to spend the entire campaign at the King Power but was recalled to Stamford Bridge last Friday.
In the early stages of his Leicester career, Casadei had struggled to break apart Enzo Maresca’s indispensable midfield trio.
Harry Winks, Wilfred Ndidi and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were all preferred starters and the 21-year-old had to settle for minutes from the bench.
The unfortunate injury to Ndidi, however, gave the Chelsea man further opportunities to impress, playing ninety minutes in the 4-1 victory over Huddersfield and the 3-1 defeat to Coventry City.
Understandably, watching him return to his parent club left Leicester’s squad a little depleted ahead of Monday’s 1-1 draw against fellow high-fliers Ipswich Town.
Although his departure may pave the way for long-term target Stefano Sensi to arrive from Inter Milan, it still left Maresca in a state of shock.
Enzo Maresca was left stunned by Cesare Casadei’s departure
Speaking to Mail Sport, the Leicester boss said: “We were surprised Casadei went back to Chelsea. They own him so they can decide – we can’t do anything. We didn’t expect it but we deal with it and we see if we can do something before the transfer window closes.”
Chelsea choosing to call back Casadei is a bizarre situation but Mauricio Pochettino has outlined his aim to use the youngster as part of his first-team squad for the remainder of the season.
Pochettino, too, has been light on midfield options recently, with Carney Chukwuemeka – who is predominantly an offensive option – the only midfielder on his bench when his side beat Fulham 10 days ago.
The departure of Casadei, however, has only reinforced the need for Maresca to invest in that area this month.
Leicester need to get the Stefano Sensi deal wrapped up
Fabrizio Romano reported last week that talks to sign Sensi had reached the advanced stages and Leicester must get this deal wrapped up as soon as possible.
In the draw against Ipswich, Maresca had to start Hamza Choudhury – who has only made eight starts in the Championship this term – alongside Winks.
With Dennis Praet the only option from their bench to play in that deep-lying midfield role currently, the Foxes can ill-afford to rely on the Belgian, especially given his contract expires in the summer.
Until Ndidi returns to action, which could now be in February at the earliest, Maresca is depleted in that area but Sensi would fix that problem.
The 28-year-old is a maestro in possession and can dictate the tempo of a match, which is why signing him on a permanent contract could prove to be a steal, as long as the club get it done.