England manager Gareth Southgate has sent a strong statement to Chelsea regarding Callum Hudson-Odoi with his comments before the clash against the Czech Republic.
That is the view of former England and Arsenal striker Ian Wright, who believes that Southgate’s strong praise of the 18-year-old has shown Maurizio Sarri that he needs to provide Hudson-Odoi with more opportunities.
Heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich during the January transfer window, Chelsea stood firm with their stance that the teenager would not be sold to the Bundesliga champions but he has still had to be patient waiting for his opportunities.
Despite that, Southgate named Hudson-Odoi in his England squad for the 2020 European Championship qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro and he was full of praise for the teenager before Friday night’s 5-0 win at Wembley.
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As a result, Wright believes there was a motive behind the comments from the Three Lions boss.
“Listening to Gareth Southgate talking about how he’s ready and how impressive he’s been, how he’s got no problem bringing him in and he looks like an international, that’s a message back to Chelsea,” he said to ITV ahead of their coverage of the game.
“You look at him and he’s ready to go and Bayern Munich are showing that, so why is he playing?”
Former Arsenal teammate Lee Dixon agreed, adding his belief that a chance for England could be a platform for him to build upon.
“The only difference between him and [Jadon] Sancho is one is playing in a major league and one is trying to get in. The progress might change because of that but ultimately talent will always come through and he will get his chance, he’s just got to be ready,” he said.
“By getting little snippets here on international level, even if it’s off the bench, that’s going to help him just to join all the dots up. Sometimes when you’re a young player, where can you put that talent? Training is great but you’ve got to have a platform to do it. He’s looking like he’s knocking majorly on the door at Chelsea.”
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