Callum Hudson-Odoi is a highly sought after asset for many big clubs in Europe. That is, except for Chelsea who actually have him under contract.
It is helpful that success at youth level is by no means a guarantee of success at the professional level. The two are separate beasts and a number of factors can lead a successful youth player to fail professionally and vice versa.
But some players are worth paying attention to and worth giving a shot. A good indication of that? If a lot of good teams want the player. And Callum Hudson-Odoi is one of those players.
Bayern Munich is the latest club to take a look at Hudson-Odoi. And if a club as well run and well scouted as Bayern start sniffing around a player, it becomes clear that there is something there. But it seems the one club with little to no interest in Hudson-Odoi is the club that has him under contract: Chelsea.
The one silver lining of the Europa League was that Chelsea could use it to give players like Ethan Ampadu and Hudson-Odoi minutes. But Sarri has had other plans. Sarri has done what many first year Chelsea managers do; he stuck by the veterans and sought silverware at the expense of the youth.
A new contract has been on the table for Hudson-Odoi who is understandably reluctant. The winger was one of Chelsea’s best players in preseason. Then Sarri forgot he existed. And given Chelsea has already all but confirmed first place in the group, it is incredibly strange that Sarri still cannot guarantee Hudson-Odoi a start. Here is a player wanted by nearly every top club but the club that has him does not have a manager willing to play him.
Chelsea understandably does not want to be the club that tells a manager who they can and cannot play. But this should be one of those moments where the club strongly encourages Sarri to play Hudson-Odoi rather than run Willian into the ground or put Victor Moses on the bench for no reason.
Sarri is not the only blame worthy one here though. The constant chop and change of managers does more to hurt youth chances than anything. Just as a manager starts to bring youth through, they are sacked and the next guy starts from square one. The youth have to impress all over again and by then they have wasted their own time.
The only way to break this cycle is to bring in a youth oriented manager or stick with a manager longer than two years. But demands are high at Chelsea and the Blues rarely target the type of manager willing to risk his career to play a kid.
So clubs start sniffing around and Hudson-Odoi starts looking elsewhere for opportunity. Chelsea is left with a productive academy that they fail to actually produce anything out of for themselves. And suddenly the world is full of Chelsea academy graduates playing for other clubs with fans saying “we should sign them back”.