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The 18-year-old winger has been under speculation of an outgoing transfer from Chelsea for long now. European giants Bayern Munich have had numerous transfer bids rejected by Chelsea and now news has spread that Hudson-Odoi has handed in a transfer request which is under consideration. It is understandable for an 18-year-old of his quality to be frustrated about the lack of game time he is getting under Maurizio Sarri, but there are reasons why staying at Chelsea might be the best for him.
The Blues wrapped up a 3-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, but despite the score line many fans are not happy with the there performance against the Championship side. Chelsea lacked creativity and that final spark despite dominating most of the possession in the match which has been the case under Maurizio Sarri in most games. Although Sarriball has won a fair share of matches for Chelsea, Sarri has relied on the likes of Hazard to bring in that bit of spark or creativity in the final third. Without the 'Hazard factor' Chelsea definitely looks as if they don't possess any real threat to the opposition, be it a Championship side. From Saturday's performance, it's evident that if any other player in the Chelsea line-up have that burst of acceleration and trickery, its Callum Hudson-Odoi.
The young prospect is fast and agile on the pitch and makes it hard for the opposition to defend. With Gonzalo Higuain in the team, that's just the kind of movement Sarri needs on the wings. With good supply, from players like Hazard, Higuain can be as good as Diego Costa was at Chelsea, Hudson-Odoi is very young and if he improves on his passing skills, he and Hazard could make a deadly combo for the blues. A certain amount of flair that neither Willian or Pedro possess was certainly visible in the FA cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday, and working on this might make the 18-year-old be Chelsea's next big player in a few years time.
Although Sarri has given very little opportunity for Callum to prove himself, the staff and players at Chelsea surely want him to stay and understands the long term benefits of keeping him at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea assistant coach Gianfranco Zola made it clear that he along with the staff at Chelsea wants him to stay in the post match interview after the 3-0 win. He said
We want [Hudson-Odoi] to stay, we were singing as well! I don’t know if he will stay. We want him to stay, he has a contract, we are playing him, we believe in what he can do for this team. There are not many 18-year-olds in Europe who are playing as much as he is in a big team. That shows we believe him, we think he can be an important player for us, so we will see what happens. We can do as much as we can do. He has a lot of strong players around him but we are still finding space to play him.
Another player who was involved in the transfer rumours, Willian also backed the young talent to stay in Chelsea by reacting to a question asked in a Sky Sports interview.
He's going nowhere - he's a special talent, a very good player and is staying with us," said Willian.Of course he is only 18 but he can improve a lot and in the future can become one of the best players in the world. It's difficult not to think about Bayern Munich because they are a great team as well but for me, his future is here.
Game time is certainly important for a player like Callum, and he feels as though he is not getting enough of it. On top of that, the signing of the American winger Pulisic won't make getting into the starting line-up easy for Hudson-Odoi. But we have seen many young players joining big teams such as Bayern Munich and PSG in search of game-time being benched, or being loaned out from their new club. With speculation of Hazard's future still not sorted, staying at Chelsea might just be the best option for Callum Hudson-Odoi.
