Chelsea management were happy to see Fabio Borini involved with Pierluigi Casiraghi's Italy U21 squad last week.
Borini played his first Italy Under 21 games, a 2-0 defeat to Hungary and a 4-0 win against Luxembourg during the international break.
"Unfortunately he didn't get on the scoresheet," reserves coach Steve Holland told chelseafc.com, "but he was playing with Serie A players who are playing week in, week out, which can only be good for his development. He played alongside Mario Balotelli from Inter Milan in one of those games, which can only be good for him."