Have Chelsea fans seen the last of Callum Hudson-Odoi in a blue shirt? The player and Bayern Munich hope so.
The 18-year-old winger was on target in Chelsea’s comfortable FA Cup win against Sheffield Wednesday – but he has just 18-months left on his current deal, but he has rebuffed all of the club’s offers of a new deal.
Hudson-Odoi and his team do not believe Chelsea, and particularly current boss Maurizio Sarri, will give him the first-team football he wants and the fact the teenager is yet to be given a Premier League start – backs that up.
Bayern Munich are understood to have four-bids rejected – but are ready to come back and are offring more than £40million for the England youth star.
Hudon-Odoi has told the club he wants to leave and he even requested a transfer, but Chelsea remain hopeful they can persuade him to wait until the end of the season – when it is expected Eden Hazard will leave, and thus making his first-team chances somewhat better.
“We want him to stay,” Chelsea assistant Gianfranco Zola said.
“He has a contract. We believe in what he can do for this team. I don’t think there are many 18-year-old players around Europe that are are playing as much as him in a big team.
“If you look at Juventus, all the big teams, they don’t have many 18-year-old players playing like we do. That shows that we believe in him, we think he can be an important player for us, so we will see what happens.
“We can do as much as we can do. From our point of view he has a lot of strong players next to him. But we still find the space for him to play.”
But Bayern are ready to push hard before the transfer window closes on Thursday, and Hudson-Odoi remains odds-on with the Bookmakers to move.
Coral makes him at 1/2 to complete his much talked about move to Bayern before the transfer window slams shut.
“Chelsea fans are still holding out hope that Hudson-Odoi will stay at Stamford Bridge but we make him odds on to move to Bayern this window. In our eyes his goal last night looks like it will be a taste of what they might miss as opposed to a glimpse into the future,” said Coral’s Harry Aitkenhead.