Frank Lampard has advised Callum Hudson-Odoi to remain patient in his aims to become a first-team regular for the club.
The 20-year-old has been in excellent form recently. He has so far scored three goals from 11 games in all competitions for the club this season. He opened the scoring for Lampard’s charges in their 2-1 Champions League group stage victory over French club Rennes earlier this week. The result ensured that the Blues advance to the last 16 of the Champions League this season.
“I am seeing constant improvements from him; I knew he’d had a couple of good performances for the England Under-21s last week,” Lampard told Chelsea’s website.
“I know he wants more minutes, but I have competition in that area.
“If he isn’t getting minutes in a period it doesn’t mean he is out of favour with me. He certainly isn’t. He is still a developing player, to a degree.
“The bit of quality he shows with the first two touches before he got his shot away was top class; I know he can do that.
“There are loads of great things about Callum, and I know there are things he can improve in his game. He knows that.
“He is a big player for Chelsea, he has a big future with us. His all-round game was fantastic, and he got his goal too.”
Hudson-Odoi will be hungry for an England recall
Hudson-Odoi has not played for England since the start of 2020. With the rescheduled European Championships set to take place next summer, he will be keen to impress for Chelsea between now and the end of the season.
However, he will face intense competition for a place in Lampard’s starting xi. Lampard looks set to build the core of his side around young talent, and the Blues had one of their best transfer windows’ in recent memory last summer.
Hudson-Odoi has been with the Blues since he was youth player. He was introduced into the first-team in 2017 and has shown plenty of promise. Interestingly, he has never been sent on loan and this proves just how highly the Blues hierarchy view him.
Most players are sent on loan early on in their careers in order to mature and gain more experience at the highest level. However, he has been strongly linked with a move to German giants Bayern Munich in recent years, and the Bavarian giants are even believed to have had a bid rejected for the Englishman last summer.
