Credit: Imago

Richie Mills

Thu 12 March 2026 7:45, UK

West Ham United are keeping tabs on former Chelsea midfielder Cesare Casadei.

West Ham and Everton are said to have recently scouted the Toronto youngster, who joined from Chelsea in February 2025 for just over £11million.

Chelsea brought Casadei to their academy in 2022 from Inter Milan but the Italy Under-21 international was never a regular fixture at Stamford Bridge.

The 6ft 4in player is now finding his feet at the Italian team, scoring six goals and adding an assist in 43 matches over the past 13 months.

Now, though, it seems West Ham are interested in signing the midfielder should they stave off relegation from the Premier League.

Cesare Casadei leading the way at Torino

Tuttosport report West Ham are keeping a close eye on Casadei, suggesting club chiefs are quietly confident of beating the drop as they scout top-level targets.

Casadei has played 28 times for Torino this season but he hasn’t always been a starter for the Italian outfit.

The 23-year-old has made 16 Serie A starts, with Casadei coming off the bench in three of his last four league outings, in addition to being an unused substitute in that stretch.

From his four Serie A goals, two of them have come from the bench and two have come as a starter, suggesting manager Roberto D’Aversa doesn’t quite know what to do with the Italian.

Indeed, Casadei is Torino’s top scorer in 2026 with one goal in the Coppa Italia and four in the league, despite having plenty of cameo stints.

In his 28 matches, 26 of them have been in central midfield, and he has played once as an attacking midfielder and once in a more defensive capacity.

The former Leicester City loanee only played 17 times for Chelsea, and just 11 of those were in the Premier League.

If he does return to the English top-flight, this time with West Ham, he will hope for a better crack at it this time round.

West Ham’s £104m problem looms large

It is only natural for teams to scout transfer targets, even if they may get relegated. After all, scouting departments don’t just stop because of that.

West Ham currently sit 18th in the Premier League but are in the relegation only on goal difference behind Nottingham Forest.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s West Ham have hauled in the likes of Tottenham, who are one point ahead of the Hammers but haven’t won in the league since 28 December, and Leeds United, thanks to an uptick in form in the past two months.

Someone like Casadei could add extra quality and physicality to West Ham’s midfield but they have a huge financial problem lurking in the background.

Last month, West Ham said they will need to sell players this summer, even if they avoid relegation from the Premier League.

This is because they revealed a £104.2m loss for the 2024-25 financial year, a huge change from a profit of £57.2m in 2023-24.

So even if they stave off relegation to the Championship, they will have to sell before they can think about buying new talent this summer.