Maurizio Sarri has called for Callum Hudson-Odoi to respect the work put in by the coaching staff at Chelsea’s academy and claimed the teenager would benefit from maintaining his development at Stamford Bridge.
Hudson-Odoi had a transfer request rejected, curtailing his hopes of moving to Bayern Munich before Thursday’s deadline, with Sarri having been assured by the Chelsea hierarchy that they will not allow the player’s sale in the summer either. The 18-year-old, who has yet to start a Premier League game, is contracted to 2020 but attracted an offer of £35m from Bayern this month.
Sarri’s attitude to Hudson-Odoi’s immediate prospects contrasts markedly with his approach to Eden Hazard. “Eden is 28 so, if he wants to go, I think he has to go,” he said. “I hope the opposite. I hope he wants to stay and improve. He has the potential to be the best player in Europe and, sometimes, he’s happy with something less. It’s my job to improve him and put him in a position to do his best. Sometimes that means I have to say something [critical] in the press to do that. It’s normal. It’s my job.
“But Callum is 18 and he has to respect the club, the academy, everything. He has time. If you are one of the best young players in Europe, maybe the academy helped you. So you have to respect this. The situation of Eden is different. Callum’s a great player. He’d become one of the best in Europe in another team, too, but he has to respect the work of the academy coaches.”
A lack of playing time at senior level has been a common complaint among the youngsters produced by Chelsea’s academy, and the club are apparently now more conscious of the need to offer a way into the first team in the wake of Bayern’s pursuit of Hudson-Odoi.
They are expected to disappoint Sarri by opting against signing a replacement for Cesc Fàbregas, who moved to Monaco this month, in order to offer Ethan Ampadu and Ruben Loftus-Cheek more opportunities in midfield.
Asked why Chelsea was still the best place for Hudson-Odoi, who scored his second goal of the season against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday , Sarri added: “Because this is his home. We will be patient with him because he’s a boy from the academy. I don’t know if, at another club, people would be patient with him after five or six matches. It’s very difficult to go to another country and adapt or play very well immediately. That’s a difficult situation. It’s better for him to try and improve here.”