Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted he is expecting to spend more time working with winger Callum Hudson-Odoi after the youngster rejected another invitation to the England Under-21 squad after being snubbed from the Three Lions senior team.
Hudson-Odoi hasn’t represented his country at any level since November 2020 after rejecting multiple call-ups to the Under-21 setup, with Gareth Southgate recently confirming that the 20-year-old has chosen to stay and work with his club instead of jetting off with the Three Lions younger side.
The last time Callum Hudson-Odoi played for England’s first team was in November 2020. The Chelsea winger has not received any call-up since. | PHOTO: Sky Sports |
It’s a decision that has attracted a lot of criticism for the forward, who is eligible to switch his international allegiance to Ghana before he makes one more appearance for England, but Tuchel confessed he is doing his best to stay out of the whole thing.
Speaking to the media ahead of the clash with Burnley on Saturday Tuchel told the media that he is trying to stay away from all the England call-up saga. Tuchel said that he knows it’s been a discussion between the federation and Callum and admitted, it ended up with Petr Cech being in discussion with the federation. The boss further said that he is happy that Cech has been included in the discussions.
The German further said that he has no interest to get involved and knowing the exact reasons. “If Callum is here, we have full control over what he is doing, his load, his focus, and his approach to his game. So it’s also a good thing when we are in charge of him.”
Chelsea forward Callum Hudson-Odoi has been on fine form recently and was yet again ignored by Gareth Southgate and instead he was called to represent the England Under-21 side, a call-up he has rejected yet again. | PHOTO: Getty Images |
Tuchel who has been using Odoi as a regular starter for the better part of October said that Callum is clearly in the right way, saying they can see in the matches and how effective he is. The boss said he feels the winger is very focused.
Odoi waited a long time for the chance to be in Chelsea’s first eleven and now they’ve arrived thanks to injuries to Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, and unfit Cristian Pulisic. Tuchel called on the youngster for his best reaction to show the consistency they need at the moment for him.
However, despite his wish not to get involved, Tuchel did take the chance to reject criticism from Trevor Sinclair, who told talkSPORT that he believes Hudson-Odoi’s choice to snub the England call-up was down to ‘arrogance’.
“I can understand if people don’t understand it or if they don’t like it,” Tuchel said. “I don’t give too much about judgments outside.
Tuchel said that he thinks Callum is very aware that if he takes a decision like this not everybody will be happy about this decision. He went on to say before judging, they should ask Callum and he will probably have good reasons why he is not joining or why he thinks personally it is better to stay and to be here in training and fight for his place in the Chelsea squad.
Chelsea will host Burnley at the Stamford Bridge today on Saturday, 6 November ahead of the international break. Callum Hudson-Odoi’s teammates Mason Mount, Reece James, and Ben Chilwell have all received call-ups to the England first team, with the latter a recall after being snubbed the last international break and being ignored in Euros 2020.
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