Former Premier League and La Liga star, Michael Owen has described Chelsea youngster, Callum Hudson-Odoi as an exceptional player but may see his Blues’ career progression at Stamford Bridge stopped by forward, Eden Hazard.
Owen stated this ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Brighton on Sunday.
According to him, it will be difficult for Hudson-Odoi to break into manager, Maurizio Sarri’s first team due to the likes of Hazard.
“Hudson-Odoi is obviously an exceptional young talent,” Owen was quoted by Express UK as saying.
“We’ve got so many of them bursting through at the moment, it is so exciting for English football.
“He likes playing wide and cutting in, he can score goals.
“He’s almost become too good for youth football already and he’s only 18, which is a great sign.
“But the problem then is Hudson-Odoi good enough to make that jump into a first team? That’s the big question.
“Ten, 15 years ago he would have been fast-tracked through and have a seamless transition. Now, the structure of the game makes it quite tricky.
“He’ll be in an under-23 side at Chelsea mainly playing his games and if he’s conquered that already at 18 years of age, where can he go? He can’t go anywhere.
“Is he going to get the likes of Eden Hazard and players like that out of the team? No.
“So what can he do? There’s no reserve team football anymore.
“A loan is not ideal for the clubs though, that’s the problem. They don’t want to expose some of their best players to certain levels.
“But that is probably the only way at the moment.”
Hudson-Odoi has four appearances in all competitions this season for the West London club.
The 18-year-old scored his first senior goal in Chelsea’s 4-0 victory over PAOK Salonika in the Europa League two weeks ago.
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