Maurizio Sarri not even making token gestures towards a future at Chelsea FC

Callum Hudson-Odoi spent all but six minutes on the bench against Malmo and Ethan Ampadu was nowhere to be seen. Maurizio Sarri is already acting like Chelsea are not his problem.

What a difference a bit of leverage makes. Callum Hudson-Odoi played 278 minutes in January, or more precisely, the January transfer window. With the entire football world watching the mutual interest between the Chelsea starlet and Bayern Munich, Maurizio Sarri capitulated and made Hudson-Odoi a regular in the two domestic cups and a substitute in two Premier League games.

Now that the danger of a transfer has passed, Hudson-Odoi is back where Sarri thinks he belongs: on the bench until the remaining game time is into single digits.

The away game against Malmo was Hudson-Odoi’s best chance – perhaps the only chance – for a start in February. Sarri clearly will not start him in the Premier League, even when the pressure is on from Bayern Munich. The remaining cup games are in the FA Cup against a resurgent Manchester United and the final of the Carabao Cup against Manchester City. Between the two is the home tie against Malmo.

Hudson-Odoi’s two FA Cup starts were against Championship teams. He only started – only played – in the first leg of the semifinal against Tottenham. He did not play in the must-win second leg, which Chelsea entered down 1-0.

Going back to the Europa League group stage, Sarri only starts Hudson-Odoi when the game is not decisive (group stage dead rubbers, first leg of a two-leg tie) or against lower tier competition. The games against Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday were the only games Hudson-Odoi has started where a loss would directly end Chelsea’s involvement in the tournament. He was a substitute in both games against BATE Borisov, even though Chelsea had all but assured passage to the Round of 32 by the second.

Sarri’s decision not to start Hudson-Odoi against Malmo, then, is restrictive even by these rules. Had Chelsea lost, they would still be in a favourable position to win the tie at Stamford Bridge next week. As it stands, they take a 2-1 advantage with two away goals into the second leg. However, the next game will still be decisive.

Even though the Allsvenskan is closer to the Championship than the Premier League and the second leg will be Malmo’s second game since mid-December, Hudson-Odoi will probably not start, given what weighs in the balance. The away game was his last chance, and Sarri passed it up.

Maurizio Sarri is not even nodding towards the future at Chelsea. Yes, every game could be his last and he needs to play like he is in his own personal knockout round. He must win every game for their to be a next game. But for someone who is so confident in his systems and methodologies that he will not adapt or adjust in the slightest, he is acting like a man who knows (as most of us already do) that he will not be at Chelsea next season.

A coach confident in his job for next season would be laying the groundwork for that season in the most basic way possible: ensuring the players he will need next season and beyond do not submit a transfer request on the morning of June 1.

Chelsea’s coach for the 2019/20 season would rather have Hudson-Odoi at Stamford Bridge than at the Allianz Arena. Chelsea’s board seemingly understood this enough to apply whatever necessary pressure on Sarri to play Hudson-Odoi throughout January. Now that Hudson-Odoi does not have his leverage over the club, the club has seemingly lost their leverage over Sarri. He has nothing to gain by ingratiating himself with the board and no reason to set the conditions for success next season, so why bother with something so far out of his comfort zone as playing a youth player?

While Callum Hudson-Odoi is the flashpoint this season for all discussions about Chelsea’s youth, all this applies to Ethan Ampadu, Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, even if those latter two are well into their 20s and experienced internationals (as is Ampadu). Maurizio Sarri’s stubbornness is taking on shades of apathy and spite. He is unable or unwilling to look beyond the immediate moment – not even into his own future – and seems completely dismissive, if not outright hostile, towards the Chelsea he will leave behind.

Chelsea will almost certainly sack him once next season’s Champions League is fully out of reach, and they may sack him before then. For not the first time, Sarri appears to be making the case for the club to just get it over with.