Callum Hudson-Odoi: Lampard convinced me to stay at Chelsea

The teenager made his senior debut for the Blues last season.

Callum Hudson-Odoi is one of those players who came through the ranks of the Chelsea Academy to make his senior debut for the club recently which was never a case few years back.

He made a promising start to his Chelsea career but the then Italian manager, Maurizio Sarri didn’t give him enough chances to prove his mantle. German giants, Bayern Munich saw his potential and in January they made a bid of £35m plus £5m in add-ons but the Chelsea board blocked the move.

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Since then, Callum Hudson-Odoi went on to make his senior debut against Montenegro in March but his season was cut short due to ruptured achilles. Yet, everything changed in the summer when Frank Lampard replaced Sarri at the helm. He says one meeting was enough  for Lampard to convince him to sign a £120,000 a week contract.

In an exclusive chat with British media outlet Dailymail, Hudson Odoi says, “I’m really happy that I stayed at Chelsea. I’ve been there all my life, I’ve loved the club from day one. Obviously, the academy boys who have come through are playing loads of games and it’s just a good bond.”

He also admitted pondering over a move to Allianz Arena saying, “I was more thinking about it [signing for Bayern]. I wasn’t saying I was definitely going to sign or I wasn’t going to sign. It was just because of times last year where I felt a bit of frustration or times when I wanted to play more because I love the game.”

“There were times where I was thinking: ‘What happens if I do that?’ But at the same time, I think: ‘Chelsea is the club where I’ve been and this is where I want to become a key player.’ Doing it at the club where I’ve been is a massive thing. Does it feel more special? Definitely.” he further adds

Interestingly, Callum Hudson-Odoi idolizes Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldindo and loves to play cage football.  “You’ve just got to be confident in every game you play. There’s no way you can show fear or be scared of any situation. The cage football helped a lot. It’s where I grew up," he quoted.

Frank Lampard is being very strict with the teenager to keep him grounded and not to get carried away. “He is hard on me but it’s in a good way because he wants me to keep getting better,” Hudson-Odoi continues, “The manager wants to win and he wants to win in the best way. He wants you to get better and that’s why he will tell you in the way he does.”

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He says one meeting with Frank Lampard was enough for him to stay at Stamford Bridge, "He just said he believed in me, that he wants me to play for him and things will go well for me at this club. It was exciting times that a new manager was coming in and you know that he will play at least some of the youth boys as well.”

Callum Hudson-Odoi has received his England call-up by Gareth Southgate duty in the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Montengro and Kosovo. Though, he is aware of the competition for the spots in the starting lineup Kane, Rashford, Sancho, Sterling.

“When people say they make up the best front three in the world, it’s a motivation. I want to be one of them. I want to have people say: ‘OK. There’s five of them now,” he concluded.