Under the tenure of owner Roman Abramovic Chelsea have presented something of a juxtaposition. There is a definite sense of separation between the clubs prestigious youth academy and the first team squad, despite the significant level of funding being funnelled into the youth system there have been very few players graduate from that youth system to make any kind of impact at first-team level.
That may be about to change over the next year or two with the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathaniel Chalobah having spent successful loan periods with Premier League clubs and younger prospects like Mason Mount drawing rave reviews during a loan spell with Vitesse Arnhem in the Eredivisie.
With that said however it is the 17-year-old wide attacking player Callum Hudson-Odoi who looks set to make a real impact at first team level over the course of the coming season. Chelsea has had a succession of coaches over the last 6 years but all have had one thing in common, a focus on first-team affairs at the cost of playing time and development for youth team players. Now though, with the appointment of the former Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri, that may be about to change. Indeed with Hudson-Odoi performing to a high level in pre-season for Chelsea, we have already seen Sarri come out in the media to confirm that the youngster will remain with the first team squad for the coming season and that he will play a part with the first team. This statement coupled with the assertion from Sarri that he is ‘bored’ of transfers and prefers to work with and improve the players that he already has seems to suggest a definite sense of policy from Chelsea.
The purpose of this article is to examine some of the strong points that make Callum Hudson-Odoi stand out, even as a 17-year-old.
Explosive Pace
Callum Hudson-Odoi is primarily a left-sided player although he is comfortable working from the wide areas or from the half space. He is tall, standing over 6ft, and exceptionally explosive both in and out of possession but it is footballing intelligence that really stands out when you watch him play. Indeed it is this football intelligence that could well see Hudson-Odoi become an important part of the Chelsea team under Sarri this coming season with the Italian coach preferring a highly technical and quick attacking style of play.
During the recent episode of the Total Football Analysis podcast, myself and Chris Darwen were discussing Chelsea with Chris stating that he believes that Sarri may look to convert Eden Hazard into a central attacker. The presence of Hudson-Odoi in the squad may allow Hazard to move in with the youngster taking some minutes wide on the left.
While at Napoli we saw Sarri use the Italian international Lorenzo Insigne in this wide left slot where he played a more inverted role, Hudson-Odoi presents a different option to Sarri with his ability to move in quick attacking patterns and attack space in behind the opponents defensive block.
Here we see an example taken from the pre-season match between Arsenal and Chelsea. Hudson-Odoi played on the left of the attack where he was isolated at times 1v1 against Arsenal’s Spanish international right-back Hector Bellerin.
Bellerin is well known as a player that possesses plus pace although in this match he found the 17-year-old Hudson-Odoi more than capable of not only matching him for pace but of beating him to passes played in behind the Arsenal defensive line.
