Chelsea have decided to ship out their winger Callum Hudson-Odoi in the summer according to Fichajes. The academy graduate was loaned to Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen at the start of the 2022/23 season. Despite a promising start, Hudson Odoi hasn’t been able to firmly establish himself as a starter for the German outfit under head coach Xabi Alonso.
He has appeared in 20 games thus far, logging 1067 minutes in total, with the majority of those games being as a substitute. He just has one goal and one assist under his belt to show. Given that he has a contract with Chelsea that runs until 2024, Hudson Odoi is expected to rejoin the team this summer. But according to Fichajes, the Blues are willing to let him go for permanent this summer.
Chelsea to sell Hudson-Odoi as part of their wholesale clearance
In order to lighten the heavy squad they have assembled through spending over half a billion, Chelsea are gearing for a wholesale clearance in the summer. Hudson-Odoi is on the list as well since the Blues are no longer willing to wait for the player to reach his full potential. Instead, they want to sell him in order to balance their financial books. The winger has made 126 appearances for Chelsea and has tallied 22 assists and 16 goals.
At the end of this season, Hudson-Odoi, who left the team on loan last summer, will return. He will meet a tonne of new faces at the Stamford Bridge thanks to the club’s spending binge this year. Amongst a number of host of signings, the Blues have recruited players including Raheem Sterling, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mykhailo Mudryk, Joao Felix (on loan), Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella, and Wesley Fofana.
Nevertheless, the attacking players haven’t delivered, and the Blues have had trouble scoring goals this year. In order to give the newcomers time to adjust, players like Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, and perhaps Raheem Sterling might be shipped out in the summer. Hudson Odoi whose ideal place is on the left wing too will have to eventually have to bid farewell to his boyhood club since Chelsea have a tonne of choices in his position.
Both the club and the player would benefit from parting ways at this time since neither has been able to help the other improve their situation. The England international’s has a contract term that expires in 2024, and Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly does not want players in his team to run down their contracts and leave for free, like established internationals Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen did last summer.
Hudson Odoi has been sluggish lately for Leverkusen, and it looks less and less probable that the club would try to sign him on a permanent basis. Simon Rolfes, Leverkusen’s sporting director has also stated that Hudson Odoi will need to demonstrate a lot more promise before being reinserted into the starting XI. Hudson Odoi’s current situation is also expected to get more dull as the likes of Florian Wirtz, Patrik Schick, Karim Bellarabi, and Sardar Azmoun get closer to returning to full fitness.