Thomas Tuchel plans to turn Callum Hudson-Odoi in to a world beater
The German boss rates the young England international and plans to develop him
The student and the master - Callum Hudson-Odoi and Thomas Tuchel.
There was a moment at the end of Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday evening when it came to realisation that instead of Hudson-Odoi being ‘out of favour’ under Tuchel, it hit me that he actually has big plans for the young winger.
I’ve spoke on the Podcast about my concerns over Hudson-Odoi’s lack of game time and the fact that after Frank Lampard didn’t seem to fancy him, neither now does Tuchel. However, I understand that Tuchel rates Hudson-Odoi highly and he actually plans to turn him into a world beater.
It appears to be a patient development, but one that Tuchel and Hudson-Odoi will be, and must be, fully behind and trusting each other.
Tuchel came up to Hudson-Odoi at the end of the game against City and as well as putting him in a head-lock affectionately, he was also giving him some positive and helpful feedback on his cameo, which was actually superb and gave Chelsea a big help in getting the late winner.
I saw this video and I knew that any concerns I had about Hudson-Odoi not being fancied by Tuchel had disappeared. ‘Trust the process’ is actually a very fitting way to describe this, and although Hudson-Odoi will surely have frustrations over not playing as much as he wants to over the last couple of months, he will be holding that trust and belief that Tuchel is planning on turning him into the next Neymar or Kylian Mbappe, which is what I am told.
Simon Phillips (@siphillipssport)
If TT succeeds in making Cal into anywhere near Mbappe - a bronze statue has to be a formality - plus a permanent position for TT in the club across all age ranges once he has finished his immediate tasks with first team after winning 3 PL and CL titles. Can only dream but what a turnaround after January.