The manager of Chelsea football club, Thomas Tuchel said it is Chelsea’s gain that Callum Hudson-Odoi decided not to represent England in the under-21 level.
Callum Hudson-Odoi is ready to play for England’s senior national team but the national team coach Gareth Southgate wants him to start from the under-21 level.
Southgate believes that he and his coaching crew would be able to evaluate the player better if he plays for the under-21 team but Hudson-Odoi does not want to buy the idea.
The winger was supposed to join up with the England under-21 team for this month’s FIFA international break but preferred to focus on his club career since he was not invited to play for the country’s senior team.
The 20-year-old winger wants to be like his Chelsea teammates Mason Mount and Reece James who have broken into the national team. “He (Hudson-Odoi) has a better chance of impressing us if he is with the U21s as well, frankly”, coach Southgate insisted.
Ahead of Chelsea vs Burnley Premier League game scheduled to kick off at 16:00 later today, November 6, coach Thomas Tuchel was brought to the discussion. The German coach said he does not have a problem with Hudson-Odoi’s decision.
The coach noted that he was happy that Hudson-Odoi was staying back at Chelsea during the international break because that would help the club to monitor the player closely.
The coach however urged the English winger to continue to work hard as he has been doing to establish himself more in Chelsea’s squad.
Coach Thomas Tuchel said: “I did not get involved in this discussion. I know it was a discussion between the federation and Callum, and I think it ended up with Petr Cech [Chelsea’s technical and performance advisor] being in the discussion.
“I was happy about that – I had no interest to get involved and know the exact reasons why.
“If Callum is here, we have full control of what he’s doing. It’s a good thing when we are in charge.
“He is clearly on the right way – you can see it in the matches and how effective he is. I feel he is very focused. He waited a long time for these changes and now they arrived.
“The best reaction from him is to keep on going and show the consistency that we need from him…
Speaking further on Hudson-Odoi’s decision to turn down England under-21 call-up, coach Thomas Tuchel said: “I can understand if people don’t understand it or if they don’t like it. I don’t give too much to judgments from the outside.
“I think that Callum is very aware that if he decides this, not everybody will be happy.
“You should ask Callum about it. He probably has good reasons why he thinks that at this moment, for him personally, it’s better to stay and fight for his place. It’s easy to judge from the outside, but you should hear both sides.
“If there are consequences, I am sure that Callum takes the consequences.”
In the past couple of matches, Callum Hudson-Odoi has been enjoying regular game time under coach Thomas Tuchel. The coach had no choice but to start him because his first-choice attackers, Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner are out with different degrees of injuries.
So far this season, coach Thomas Tuchel has used Hudson-Odoi 10 times in all competitions. He has scored a goal and provided 2 assists.
Thomas Tuchel laughed loudly when asked if he might ever manage Spurs in the future 🤣 pic.twitter.com/BCEvCo0JHp
— Mirror Football (@MirrorFootball) November 5, 2021
