Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri must shoulder the blame if Callum Hudson-Odoi quits club

Waiting game: Hudson-Odoi has had limited game time at Chelsea
Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Simon Johnson29 November 2018

Maurizio Sarri has been a popular appointment at Stamford Bridge since his arrival in July, but now the relationship is starting to be put to the test.

Being the man in charge of a Chelsea side that gets beaten by Tottenham in embarrassing fashion, as they were on Saturday, is something all those connected to the Blues will find hard to forget. Playing N’Golo Kante out of position has raised eyebrows, too, as has his regular selection of Alvaro Morata and David Luiz.

Yet, the Italian remains in credit. Chelsea have lost only once in all competitions and must still be considered ahead of schedule. However, Sarri might find forgiveness a lot harder to come by should his treatment of Callum Hudson-Odoi drive the England hopeful out of Stamford Bridge.

Hudson-Odoi is one of the brightest youth prospects in the country, let alone in Chelsea’s well-renowned academy.

Arsenal’s Hector Bellerin will have bad memories of facing the 18-year-old in a pre-season friendly in Dublin, when the winger beat him time after time. Then, it seemed certain that he would get a reasonable amount of game-time in Sarri’s first season — the head coach even started him in the Community Shield against Manchester City.

Chelsea are aware that Hudson-Odoi’s talent is admired by a number of clubs across Europe, including Bayern Munich and Juventus, so offered him a five-year deal in July. Yet, four months on and the deal remains unsigned. More worryingly, Hudson-Odoi is giving serious thought to leaving.

It is understandable. Sarri has played him just twice as a substitute, totalling a mere 35 minutes, since that outing against City — both against BATE Borisov in the Europa League — and it does not look like he will be named in the first XI against PAOK Salonika this evening either.

“Callum has to improve a lot,” explained Sarri. “First of all, the defensive phase, he has to work. He has to improve on the offensive phase. He’s very good one against one, but he has to learn to move without the ball. I want to find space for him. It’s not very easy because, at the moment, we have 28 players.”

Five players who Chelsea could replace Eden Hazard with this summer

1/6

Given the Blues have also progressed to the last eight of the Carabao Cup, being on the pitch for just over half an hour is a disappointing return for a youngster who was part of the England Under-17 side that won the World Cup last year.

Hudson-Odoi need only look at one of his team-mates from that successful side to start considering what options lie elsewhere. Jadon Sancho, who left City for Borussia Dortmund last year, is a regular. He has been rewarded with a call-up to the senior national side for the past two international breaks and has three caps. Then there is the fact that Chelsea are thinking about spending £70million on Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic, who also plays out wide.

Sarri could regret letting Hudson-Odoi leave on loan in Juanuary
AFP/Getty Images

Chelsea are willing to let Hudson-Odoi leave on loan in January, as long as he signs his deal. Letting him go anywhere would be some gamble — and one Sarri may live to regret.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in