Gianfranco Zola insisted that the club wants Callum Hudson-Odoi to stay after the 18-year-old marked what could be his final appearance at Stamford Bridge with an impressive goal in Sunday’s 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fourth round.
His words, “We want him to stay as well, we were singing for him to stay,” Zola said. “I don’t know [what will happen but] we want him to stay. He has a contract, we are training. We believe in what he can do for this team.
“I don’t think there are many 18-year-old players around Europe that are are playing as much as him in a big team. If you look at Juventus, all the big teams they don’t have many 18-year-old players playing like we do.
“That shows that we believe in him, we think he can be an important player for us, so we will see what happens.”
Zola added that while Sarri and his coaching staff value Hudson-Odoi highly, the question of whether he stays or leaves is ultimately out of their hands.
“I am not the club, I work for the club,” he said. “I can do as much as I can, but then these are decisions that don’t belong for me. There is certainly a good understanding between the management and the club, but at the end of the day I cannot say more than that.”
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