5 Chelsea players who need to secure a move in January

#2 Callum Hudson-Odoi

Outstanding in pre-season, Callum Hudson-Odoi has yet to feature in 2018/19 for Chelsea

During Chelsea’s pre-season matches against the likes of Perth Glory and Inter Milan, one name was on the lips of Blues fans – that of young England winger Callum Hudson-Odoi. He was the outstanding player throughout that short period and he also started in the Community Shield and performed well against Manchester City, arguably being Chelsea’s best player prior to his substitution.

Since the season began properly though, the u17 World Cup winner has been nowhere to be seen. Like Ampadu, the suggestion was that he’d be utilised in the secondary cup competitions but as we saw with his young Welsh teammate, he wasn’t included in the squad for the game against PAOK last week.

A phenomenal talent with quick dribbling skills and a scarily sharp mind for the game at his young age of 17, some Chelsea fans were even suggesting that the club should cash in on Eden Hazard and unleash Hudson-Odoi in the Premier League this season. That’d clearly be too early – he still has holes in his game – but he’s only going to close those holes with experience and with Hazard, Pedro and Willian ahead of him as wide forwards, that’ll be hard to find at Stamford Bridge.

Come January – assuming Sarri doesn’t start to utilise him more often both in the Premier League (probably from the bench) and in the cup competitions – Hudson-Odoi should probably look for a loan move either abroad or in the Championship. It’s too soon for him to abandon Chelsea outright but the experience at his age will be key to his future development and so he needs game time soon.