Tomas Soucek may be pretty unique at West Ham United, but that does not make him irreplaceable. Cesare Casadei, the former Chelsea starlet now at Torino, could make a very decent fist of stepping into his shoes.
Sold by West Ham United’s London rivals in a £10 million deal last summer, speculation out of Italy suggests that Casadei could make a speedy return to English football.
It is claimed that the Hammers have sent representatives to watch the Inter Milan academy graduate in the flesh. Tuttosport also throw David Moyes’ Everton into the mix.
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Now, Moyes may see shades of a young Marouane Fellaini in this 6ft 4ins midfielder box-crasher. Over at West Ham, while Tomas Soucek is still a mightily potent source of goals from deep, their apparent interest in a similar type of profile – one eight years younger – may provide the first hints of a Soucek succession plan.
West Ham United-linked Cesare Casadei is ‘the Italian Lampard’
With four goals in his last nine matches, Casadei is one of the most in-form footballers in Serie A right now. Only three players – Roma’s Donyell Malen, Atalanta’s Nikola Krstovic and Inter Milan captain Lautaro Martinez with five – have scored more since the turn of the year.
Casadei’s most recent strike was a towering header in a 2-1 defeat by Napoli at the weekend. This means that his last three goals have all come from the forehead. In fact, since the start of 2022/23 when former Italy Under-21 international joined Leicester City on loan, six out of nine goals have been headers.
Those darting runs into the penalty area earned Casadei comparisons with a young Frank Lampard at Chelsea.
“He’s a modern midfielder,” Maurizio Viscidi, who watched Casadei’s development closely with the Italy youth sides, told Gazzetta dello Sport. “Out of all the youth team midfielders he’s been the one with the greatest aptitude for attacking runs and goalscoring.
“He attacks the penalty area better than anyone else we’ve seen, better than [Inter’s Davide] Frattesi or [Nicolo] Barella.”
In various interviews, Casadei spoke about his admiration for Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ernesto Valverde. Three more physically imposing, powerhouse midfielders who love to break into the box and get on the end of crosses.
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At West Ham, meanwhile, the obvious comparison is with Soucek.
Stats specialists Data MB calculate that both players have fairly similar overall skillsets, though Casadei ranks far higher when it comes to ‘progressive carries’. In short, and partly because he is nearly a decade younger, Casadei is a more athletic profile. One who can ‘ball-carry’ as well as ‘box-crash’.
His terrific volley in Torino’s 2-0 win at Monza in May 2025 is a fine example of Casadei’s talents. Loitering with intent at the edge of the area, he was the first to react to a bungled clearance. Controlling the ball with his head, he then rattles a fierce volley in off the underside of the crossbar.
A relatively rare non-headed goal, but the type Soucek has made his trademark during half a decade in the capital.
While Potter never seemed fully convinced, Nuno has embraced Soucek fondly since taking over at the London Stadium. Soucek even broke a Premier League record under Nuno, becoming the competition’s greatest-ever Czech goalscorer.
“Look, I’ve played against Tomas many times,” Nuno said after the veteran equalled Patrik Berger’s tally of 36 in November’s 3-2 win over Burnley. “It was a nightmare stopping Tomas from getting into the box!
“He recognises space, he has the belief that not many players have.”
Not many, certainly. But Cesare Casadei is one of very few capable of stepping into Soucek’s shoes.
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