England U21 boss Aidy Boothroyd says Callum Hudson-Odoi is good enough to start for any team he chooses, after having the Chelsea starlet pinched from his side by Gareth Southgate.
Hudson-Odoi received his first U21 call up last week, but had barely had time to introduce himself to his new teammates on yesterday when he was summoned to St George’s Park to join Southgate’s senior outfit.
Along with Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse, Hudson-Odoi was brought into the squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro after the withdrawals of Luke Shaw, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fabian Delph and John Stones through injury.
The 18-year-old’s swift international rise comes after only 119 minutes of Premier League football with Chelsea this season, and he has been heavily linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge in search of more playing time.
Bayern Munich are known to have been interested, and Boothroyd believes Hudson-Odoi would not look out of place with them, or any other European giant.
"Wherever he goes, he is good enough in my opinion from what I have seen potentially to be a regular at whatever team he plays at,” Boothroyd told Sky Sports.
"I have been very impressed with him whenever I have seen him, whether it be coming on as a sub or starting a game.
"Our aim is to get as many of our players playing in the Premier League as we can. As it's happened, foreign clubs have tried to take the best English talent produced by English coaches.
"It is a good time for English football but they need that examination at the end of the week so you can understand why they start thinking about different options. They want to play football and that should be applauded."
