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One football-related story that simply won’t go away right now is the saga of Callum Hudson-Odoi and the question of whether the England youngster will leave Chelsea for a new destination – likely to be Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
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Bayern have supposedly bid up to £35m for the winger although a deal is not done just yet, and while Hudson-Odoi has remained professional throughout and hasn’t spoken about the situation, this past weekend saw reports that he’d actually handed in a transfer request after turning down a new £80k per week deal at Stamford Bridge.
All may not be lost for the Blues, though – Hudson-Odoi started their FA Cup tie with Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday and scored a great goal – and was given a hugely warm reception by the Chelsea fans. Can Chelsea keep him? Who knows – but here are 5 reasons why they need to try their best to stop him from leaving.
#1 Chelsea are short on goals – and Hudson-Odoi scores and creates
Chelsea have enjoyed a solid start to 2018/19 under new boss Maurizio Sarri, but one area they’ve certainly been short on is goals. The Blues have scored 40 Premier League goals in their 23 games thus far – averaging 1.7 goals per game. That doesn’t sound bad, but compared to their rivals, they’re a step behind; Arsenal and Tottenham have both scored 48, while Liverpool have scored 54 and Manchester City a massive 62.
The Blues have already made a move to rectify this – by signing Argentine hitman Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Juventus to replace the misfiring Alvaro Morata, who has moved on loan to Atletico Madrid – but simply switching their striker may not be enough. That’s where Hudson-Odoi ought to come in if Chelsea are smart.
The 18-year-old might be short on experience, but an area he certainly isn’t short on is goals. Hudson-Odoi both scores and creates goals, and he’s already proven this in the few chances he’s been given in the first team this season. 2 goals and 1 assist in 10 appearances doesn’t sound like much, but most of the youngster’s appearances have come from the bench, and he only actually has 277 minutes under his belt.
That means on average, he’s involved with a goal every 92 minutes of action – an impressive stat for sure, even above Eden Hazard, who averages involvement with a goal every 80 minutes. The fact that Hudson-Odoi is so dangerous going forward – and seems to guarantee goals – should surely mean that a side like Chelsea, who are hurting for goals, should do whatever it takes to keep him.
#2 Selling him would send an appalling example to their other young players
What do Lewis Baker, Dominic Solanke, Izzy Brown, Josh McEachran and Nathaniel Chalobah have in common? All 5 were hugely talented youngsters who developed their skills in Chelsea’s academy, and as of today – as harsh as it is to admit – none of them have quite reached their potential just yet. Sure, there are various reasons for this, but it’s impossible to deny that part of the problem was the way they were treated at Chelsea.
Simply put, no other club gives as few chances to its talented youngsters as Chelsea. The proof is there for all to see in the fact that John Terry was the last academy product to really cement himself in the Blues’ first team, although Ruben Loftus-Cheek is finally beginning to break through too. And that’s exactly why Hudson-Odoi seems to want out.
But surely this approach simply doesn’t make sense. Why would a club like Chelsea – and their owner, Roman Abramovich – want to continue to spend millions in the transfer market when ready-made stars like Hudson-Odoi are coming through their own production line? At some point, surely this short-sighted nature needs to change.
What kind of message would selling Hudson-Odoi send to the club’s other youngsters, players like Ethan Ampadu, Mason Mount and even younger stars like Trevoh Chalobah and George McEachran? It’d tell them that staying at Chelsea risks them wasting their careers away – and how long would it be before they look to follow Hudson-Odoi out the door? Chelsea’s young talent is simply too good to be wasted in that way – and so the Blues need to keep Hudson-Odoi and actually utilise him.
#3 Willian and Pedro won’t be around forever
Right now, Chelsea don’t seem to have any problems in terms of wingers; Eden Hazard is perhaps the best in the world when he plays in his favoured position as a left-sided forward; US star Christian Pulisic is due to arrive at Stamford Bridge in the summer and will likely play on the right wing, and Pedro and Willian have both been deployed on the wings to much success, too.
In short, it might not appear that Chelsea truly need Hudson-Odoi at the current time. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Both Willian and Pedro are ageing – Pedro is 32 in July, Willian is 31 in August – and that means that neither man is going to be around forever. Sure, they’re both on good form at the minute, Willian in particular, but how long will that last, particularly in the seasons to come?
If Chelsea sell Hudson-Odoi now, they may well find themselves short – either next season or the season after – when Willian and Pedro inevitably begin to slow down and become less productive. If they can keep Hudson-Odoi, and perhaps begin to replace the two ageing stars with their 18-year old prodigy, then when the right time comes, they won’t need to spend big to find a replacement – they’ll already have a ready-made one with the right experience at Stamford Bridge already.
#4 Hazard might go to Real Madrid
If Hudson-Odoi believes that his pathway to Chelsea’s first team is blocked right now – by Eden Hazard, Willian, Pedro and the incoming Christian Pulisic – and assuming he’s not willing to wait for Willian and Pedro’s skills to wane, then the Blues would probably do well to convince him to stay until the end of the season at least. Why? Because that’s when they may well lose Hazard.
Chelsea may not want to sell the Belgian star – they may well believe that they’d rather lose Hudson-Odoi than Hazard, and few would disagree. Hazard is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest players right now. But if Real Madrid come knocking in the summer, it’s been proven time after time than when Los Blancos want a player, they usually get him, regardless of whether the player’s club want to sell.
The last scenario that Chelsea would want would be to sell Hudson-Odoi to Bayern now, and then end up having to sell Hazard in the summer to Real too. But the truth of the matter is that if Real do come in for the Belgian, the Blues may not have any choice but to sell. That’s why they should move heaven and earth to keep Hudson-Odoi; the development of such a talented youngster might not soften the blow of losing Hazard initially, but in the long run, it may not be such a bad move.
#5 He’s got the potential to be a world-beater
It’s easy to label a young talent a potential world-beater, but the term seems to fit Hudson-Odoi better than most. When England’s U17 side won their World Cup tournament in 2017, even in a team chock-full of outstanding talent like Phil Foden, Morgan Gibbs-White and Jadon Sancho, Hudson-Odoi stood out as being perhaps the most exciting player in the Three Lions’ squad.
Even Maurizio Sarri himself has waxed lyrical over Hudson-Odoi’s potential, stating that “he has the potential to become a very important player, not only for English football but for European football”. That’s pretty high praise for a young talent who has only actually played a handful of senior games to date.
And even in those handful of games, Hudson-Odoi has shown flashes of incredible potential – witness his incredible goal in the FA Cup against Sheffield Wednesday, a goal reminiscent of Dennis Bergkamp’s legendary World Cup strike for the Netherlands against Argentina, albeit on a much lesser stage of course!
Essentially, Hudson-Odoi is the type of player who only comes around once in a lifetime – Chelsea would be absolutely insane to let him go, especially for a fee of between £35m and £40m. In years to come, he could be worth double or even treble that amount. For Chelsea to simply waste all that potential would be absolutely criminal – which is why they need to do all they can to avoid that.
