Reports: Callum Hudson-Odoi set to part ways with Chelsea
Chelsea and Callum Hudson-Odoi are poised to bring a 16-year association to an end as the winger has made up his mind to head elsewhere this summer. The report comes from the Athletic’s Simon Johnson, who believes Hudson-Odoi will be the latest addition to a growing list of recent Chelsea departures.
The 22-year-old was moved to Bayer Leverkusen after the Blues splashed the cash last summer, but he failed to translate his obvious talent into goals, netting just one across 21 matches. Such has been the downfall for the Cobham graduate, as he’s now failed to exceed 30 appearances in a season for the past two years – a period of his career one would expect to see more growth from the forward.
Hudson-Odoi linked up with his teammates including Reece James, Thiago Silva, and the returning Ian Maatsen among other Chelsea stars in newly-appointed Mauricio Pochettino’s first day of pre-season. But, he’s expected to explore other opportunities before the bulk of the pre-season concludes.
Now, Chelsea will offload another one of their own homegrown talents, after having sold Ruben Loftus-Cheek to AC Milan. Although it’s said to be another sorrowful ending, leaving Chelsea could be the best case scenario for the £20 million-valued star as he seeks further development at the top level.
The same could be said about the club, which would cash in on a player likely to spend the majority of his season on the bench should he remain at Stamford Bridge. After all, 16 goals across 126 appearances make for grim reading when you’re playing for Chelsea.
A host of clubs across the globe are interested in signing Hudson-Odoi. Several clubs in Saudi Arabia have expressed interest, as have those in the Bundesliga. He’s also drawn interest from several teams in the Premier League as well.
Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Fulham and AC Milan are keeping tabs on his situation, while Ben Jacobs reported that Brentford, Atalanta and West Ham are also monitoring his availability. As such, there’s no shortage of suitors for the youngster, so the question now becomes where Hudson-Odoi chooses to play his football next season onwards. The final bid amount and how quickly a team submits one are also fluid situations at the moment.
For now, it would appear as though Callum Hudson-Odoi’s Blues career is all but done after 14 long years.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Дмитрий Пукалик. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.