JUST IN; Leicester City close in on Stefano Sensi

A replacement should not be long in coming, however. HITC has been informed that Leicester are now looking to finalise the signing of Stefano Sensi from Inter Milan, one Italian arriving to take the place of another under the club’s Salerno-born head coach Enzo Maresca.

Sensi, at the age of 28, would bring far more experience to the Leicester dressing room than the youngster Casadei.

Capped nine times by Italy, the stylish central midfielder joined Inter back in 2019 under Antonio Conte but has found game-time increasingly hard to come by at the Serie A leaders.

Sensi has played only three times in Serie A this season. He also spent 2022/23 out on loan at Monza. Still, this would be a massive coup for any second-tier club, even one almost certain to be playing Premier League football again sooner rather than later.

“We are talking about someone who sees football and implements everything that I tell him,” Conte once told netsport.uk of Sensi, part of the Nerazzuri’s Scudetto-winning side in 2021.

“He stepped up and was extraordinary.”

Inter paid around £22 million to bring Sensi to the San Siro. He is now expected to depart for a far lower fee, with reports in Italy suggesting that £1.7 million could be enough to bring the diminutive, highly-technical footballer to Leicestershire.

Enzo Maresca admits admiration for Inter ace

“I like Stefano but he’s not our player,” Maresca told Leicester Mercury in the week. “He’s Inter’s player. So to talk about him now, it’s not worth it.

“He’s a good player who can play in different positions. But he’s not our player.”

That, however, could change in the coming days.

Chelsea, meanwhile, are yet to make a decision on where Casadei will play his football for the remainder of the campaign.

The London giants, who have lost Romeo Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu to injury, have also recalled Andrey Santos from Nottingham forest