Callum Hudson-Odoi situation, Jadon Sancho speculation - two plus two equals five?
We investigate the reports of a potential swap deal
Callum Hudson-Odoi was subbed off in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Southampton, which is a very normal sentence to write.
However, the sub was made just 30 minutes after the winger came on at half time, and the frustration was clear to see as he kicked a bottle walking back to the subs bench.
"Maybe I was unfair but it was my feeling on the sideline that Hudson-Odoi wasn't sharp enough. I did not feel that he is really into this game like everybody else,” Thomas Tuchel confirmed after the game.
Whilst I appreciate his honesty and he was always going to have to explain this move to the press, I also fear what sort of effect it will have on a 20-year old player. Let’s just hope it is a positive one and he channels his anger into good performances on the pitch. I’m confident that he will do exactly that.
So inevitably, because Tuchel subbed Hudson-Odoi off after bringing him on, it means that he now wants to sell him, right? That’s how it works, right?
Wrong. I’m not even going to disclose the source/s who decided to speculate about this after the game because it’s not even worth reading. But the lazy story went around online, and it even suggested that a swap deal with Dortmund for Jadon Sancho could happen.
Again, wrong. This is not even something being debated at Chelsea right now, and Tuchel considers Hudson-Odoi to be a very important player for him and he has already pretty much confirmed that he starts against Atletico Madrid tonight.
As for Callum, yes he was annoyed with the situation of course, but you wouldn’t expect him to be anything else under these circumstances. He certainly hasn’t now said ‘I want to leave Chelsea.’
So what about Sancho? Well, all I will say on this is keep an eye on the situation, not because I have heard we are back in for him, but the fact we have always admired him and looked to pursue him in recent times, if he becomes available with the rumours of Dortmund needing to sell players if they don’t make the Champions League this season, then I’d at least expect Chelsea to have an eye on the situation.
Manchester United have also paused their interest in the England international and will not be pursuing him as things stand, according to David Ornstein of The Athletic on Monday.
You’ll find though that Chelsea are far more interested in pursing Sancho’s Dortmund team mate Erling Haaland this summer, as we provided details of in our latest Podcast here.
But as for a Hudson-Odoi and Sancho swap deal, there is nothing in this at the time of writing. Things can always change in this game though as we always say.