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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
Sport
Paul Myers

Higuain starts Chelsea career with Cup win

Gonzalo Higuain played under Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri at Napoli. (Reuters/Andrew Boyers)

Gonzalo Higuain began his life at Stamford Bridge on Sunday as part of a side that waltzed past Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 in the last 32 of the FA Cup. The 31-year-old Argentina international moved to Chelsea from AC Milan on Wednesday to rejoin Maurizio Sarri who was his coach at Napoli.

Higuain started the match at the centre of a three man front line featuring Willian on the left and Callum Hudson-Odoi on the right.

While there was interest in Higuain's performance, the focus was on Hudson-Odoi, who according to British press reports, had handed in a transfer request just before the match.

The 18-year-old has been at Chelsea since the age of eight and has starred in England youth teams.

The German champions Bayern Munich have stated they want to sign him.

Hudson-Odoi underlined his credentials with a well-taken goal in the 64th minute. That made it 2-0 to the hosts. Willian, who had scored Chelsea's first from the penalty spot in the first-half, added the gloss in the 83rd minute.

Chelsea assistant coach, Gianfranco Zola, said: "Callum 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.

"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."

 

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