Callum Hudson-Odoi has reflected on his decision to leave Chelsea on loan after struggling to secure game time at the club.
Hudson-Odoi has been at Chelsea since 2007, working his way through the academy ranks to eventually become a member of the senior squad. Since being promoted for the first-team, he has struggled to secure a consistent run of games or cement his place in the matchday squad.
After an impressive spell of form in 2019, he attracted interest from Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich. The club made multiple transfer bids for the then-teenager and Hudson-Odoi went as far as to hand in an official transfer request to former manager Maurizio Sarri, before ultimately staying at Chelsea.
Under Frank Lampard, the Englishman decided to sign a five-year deal with the London club. The manager had reinstated his belief in Hudson-Odoi and said after his appointment: “He can show, right here at Chelsea, the team he came through the academy at, that he is going to be a world-class player – because I truly believe that.”
Next in the managerial role at Chelsea came Thomas Tuchel, who clashed with the youngster during his time there. In a game where the Blues were 1-0 down to Southampton, Hudson-Odoi came on as a substutue at half-time, before being replaced by Hakim Ziyech after just 31 minutes. When explaining his decision, Tuchel said: “I was not happy with his attitude, energy and counter-pressing. I took him off and we demand 100 per cent, I feel he is not in the right shape to help us. It was a hard decision but tomorrow it is forgotten.”
In August 2022, Hudson-Odoi completed a season-long loan move to Bayer Leverkusen. He has made nine appearances in all competitions throughout the 2022/2023 campaign.
Hudson-Odoi on his time at Chelsea
In an interview with The Athletic, Hudson-Odoi has looked back on his time in London and when he knew it was time to pursue a new challenge, he said: “At that present moment when we had the first game for Chelsea against Everton, I wasn’t in the squad. That from there was my mindset saying, ‘I have to get out of here.’ Not in a rude way or in a way where I don’t want to be at the club, or I don’t like the club, nothing like that. It was a mindset of just, ‘I need to go and play football’, you know?
"When we had the first game [of the season] for Chelsea and I wasn't in the squad there was my mindset saying I had to get out of there. 'I need to go and play football'."@honigstein speaks to Callum Hudson-Odoi about #CFC, #Bayer04 and his best position…
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) October 25, 2022
“So my mindset was just, ‘Let me get out, play my football somewhere else and try and do the best I can wherever I am’. And then obviously at the end of the loan, go back to Chelsea.”