Chelsea head coach Mauricio Pochettino has acknowledged that it was "a tough decision" to recall Cesare Casadei from his loan at Leicester City.
During the summer, the Blues opted to send the young Italian to the Championship side over allowing him to spend a campaign in Serie A.
The 21-year-old subsequently earned regular football at the King Power Stadium, making 11 starts and 14 substitute outings in all competitions.
However, Chelsea recalled the Italy Under-21 international in January, a consequence of backup being required due to injuries to Romeo Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu.
As it stands, Casadei has been restricted to just one substitute outing since his return, with a five-minute cameo appearance against Liverpool at Anfield.
There is naturally some concern that Casadei will not receive the amount of football that he requires during the second half of the season as he looks to eventually become a senior member of the Chelsea squad.
However, despite Casadei not being eligible for the EFL Cup or FA Cup due to already representing the Foxes, Pochettino has hinted that he intends to hand game time to the prospect.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Pochettino said: "I think it was a tough decision because he was playing at Leicester and we did not want to cut his development, but with the injuries of Lavia and Lesley Ugochukwu, I think we needed. Carney (Chukwuemeka) was suffering. We needed another midfielder.
"If you see the squad, it was only Enzo (Fernandez), Moises (Caicedo) and Conor (Gallagher), and not another real midfielder, no? We were talking with him, we explained the situation, we explained that maybe we would use him or not and also his decision to come back. He was happy to come back, it was not just our decision.
"If we felt doubt from him to come back, we would find different solutions. He was so kind to Chelsea to come back and help us in any way. And that is why we took the decision together to make him again part of the squad.
"We played some FA Cup and Carabao Cup in this period but he is not available for that because he already played for Leicester. Of course now he is going to be involved in the Premier League games."
With Carney Chukwuemeka having been ruled out of the game against Manchester City with an ankle injury, Casadei is effectively first-choice backup for the game at the Etihad Stadium.
The former Inter Milan youngster will then not be available for selection until March 2, when Chelsea play their next Premier League fixture at Brentford. body check tags ::
