Chelsea coach, Frank Lampard has asked Callum Hudson-Odoi to give his best for Chelsea whenever he will be getting his opportunities to start a match.
At the moment, the English international will get to start today’s Carabao Cup match against Barnsley after a long period of time.
The Blues boss has confirmed the England winger will make just his second start since 1 February in the match at Stamford Bridge.
The 19-year-old winger came to the spotlight after stellar performances with both Chelsea and his country England. In 2018, Hudson-Odoi made his debut for Chelsea but had an injury setback after rupturing Achilles tendon which had a negative effect on his performances.
Since that injury he has suffered, the winger has struggled to get regular minutes under coach Frank Lampard. The coach has also not decided if he would let Callum go out on a loan or not before the transfer window closes on the 5th of October.
The Blues coach said the young winger must seize any opportunity he will get during the unavailabilities of other players.
“At the moment we have Christian Pulisic injured, Hakim Ziyech injured. We played Timo Werner out wide against Liverpool,” he said. “But the absolute natural winger who is fit at the minute is Callum.
“He has to show in every minute, on and off the ball, what he can do for the team and that’s the position Callum is in at the minute.
“He’s had an early breakthrough in his career because of his talent, he’s had an injury and now I want to see him flourish again.”
2019 Champions League winners Bayern Munich are reportedly interested in signing Hudson-Odoi on loan. Reports say that Chelsea isn’t so sure if they will accept any loan offer or not for their talented youngster. But they haven’t ruled out any exit too.
Chelsea’s centre-back, Anotonio Rudiger didn’t feature against Liverpool match too. It is yet to see what will be their fate- whether either one of them will leave or not.
On asking about the speculations, Lampard said: “I’m going to skirt around that question; it remains to be seen.”
“My priority will always be making sure I maintain and keep the strongest squad I can for this club but after that of course, the individual conversations will happen within that,” he added.
“I will try and make sure I go into the season, once the window shuts, with the squad that I feel is healthy and competitive in a healthy way.”
Chelsea will want their back up players to be ready to grab any opportunity that comes in their way.
