Chelsea manager, Frank Lampard, has revealed that one of his priorities after replacing Maurizio Sarri, was to make Callum Hudson-Odoi aware of his first-team plans.
The 18-year-old wanted to leave in the January transfer window and Bayern Munich had multiple offers rejected for the winger.
Hudson-Odoi’s deal was due to expire at the end of the season, but he has now ended speculation over his future by signing a new five-year contract.
“I spoke to Callum in pre-season in Dublin.
“Pretty much as soon as I got the job I made contact with him to make him aware I want him to be part of the plans.
“He’s a young lad who has come through the academy here, club’s worked hard with him, he’s worked hard to get one foot in the first team, for me it just feel it was what everybody wanted.
“It was away from me slightly in terms of the club will deal with the contract in itself but I made it clear I want him at the club because I believe in his talent.
“I also know that a five-year contract is signed the hard work really starts for him.
“He’s got everything in front of him. We know the talent he has, I think there is a lot more and it’s pure hard work that will get him there.
“A lot of the talk [about Hudson-Odoi leaving] was before me, a lot of that talk was from last season and I only saw it from the outside.
“The only conversations I had were were not persuasion, they were just how I see it at the club.
“Hopefully he can look at the other younger players getting their opportunities, which are not just handed on a plate, they are handed because they deserved them because they worked so hard in pre-season when you talk about Tammy [Abraham], Mason [Mount] and Fikayo [Tomori].
“There’s a nice thing for him to see and hopefully he’ll be hungry for and now it’s signed and sealed we can put that to bed and get to work,” Lampard told the media ahead of Sunday’s fixture against Liverpool.
Comments