When Eden Hazard left to join Real Madrid in the summer of 2019, there was widespread sadness throughout the Chelsea fan base.
The Blues had just lost a generational talent in the Belgian, who secured his dream move by joining Los Blancos. Nobody could really blame him, despite the sadness that resulted. Chelsea did have some sort of plan to replace Hazard, though, in the form of Callum Hudson-Odoi.
The at-the-time teenage winger was effectively Chelsea's golden boy. He was so highly thought of within the club. Academy bosses had not seen many talents like his. The future was bright.
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Hudson-Odoi has been playing for Chelsea since the age of eight. His supreme talent saw him excel through the academy groups and become one of the academy's finest young talents.
Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund both came in for Hudson-Odoi, with the German duo recognising what sort of talent Chelsea had on their hands. However, Chelsea managed to tie the winger down to fresh terms in 2019 to fend off interest from around the continent.
The club rewarded the London-born Cobham graduate with over £100,000-a-week – an excellent figure for a teenager right at the start of his career. It looked as if Hudson-Odoi would be a mainstay in the Chelsea team for years to come. It's not quite worked out that way, though, which is a mighty shame.
In 2019, Hudson-Odoi suffered a serious Achilles injury that kept him out for 143 days and it has had a long-term affect on the winger. In February of last year, he once again hurt his Achilles and missed 63 days of action for Chelsea. Injuries have definitely halted the progress of someone who used to be one of the most sought-after young talents in world football.
Since penning a long-term contract with Chelsea almost four years ago now, Hudson-Odoi has only made 60 appearances in the Premier League. If you would have said that he would only have 60 appearances to his name when he was emerging onto the scene all those years ago, people would have thought you were crazy.
So it didn't come as a huge shock in the summer of 2022 when he moved to Bayer Leverkusen on a season-long loan deal. It made sense for all three parties. Hudson-Odoi needed regular football at a good level, Chelsea wanted him to get experience and Leverkusen needed a versatile attacking player for the season.
It's not gone to plan for Hudson-Odoi at the BayArena unfortunately. He's made 20 appearances in all competitions, with 13 of those being starts and seven from the bench, scoring one goal and recording a single assist in the process.
He hasn't even featured for the German club since February 19, where he started but was brought off in the defeat to Mainz. It's clear, for whatever reason, that Bayer head coach Xabi Alonso does not see the Chelsea loanee as part of his immediate plans.
Alonso said in November of last year that he sees Hudson-Odoi as an important member of the squad and the thought of cutting his loan spell short hadn't even crossed his mind: "I want to keep him a lot. I am sure that he will stay until the end of the season. He is an important player for us."
But Alonso's actions haven't really matched his words, so something may have changed in that regard. Either way, unless something drastically changes, Hudson-Odoi doesn't seem to have a present or future with the Bundesliga club.
Does Hudson-Odoi have a future at Chelsea?
The three-time England international has just over 12 months remaining on his contract with Chelsea. As it stands, the club have no immediate plans to negotiate with his entourage over an extension to his deal.
The new ownership group, spearheaded by American billionaire Todd Boehly, want to be more decisive with players that are in the final two years of their contracts. Meaning this summer could be a huge one for Hudson-Odoi and his future, otherwise Chelsea risk losing him on a free transfer in just over 12 months' time.
Hudson-Odoi, however, days after joining Bayer Leverkusen on loan, spoke about a conversation he had with Boehly regarding his future. The winger revealed back in September that the Chelsea co-owner insisted he wants him back at Stamford Bridge and that's why he didn't allow a buy option in the loan contract for Leverkusen to trigger at the end of the season.
"It's definitely different," Hudson-Odoi explained to the Daily Mail. "When a club is trying to get a player [on loan], they always want that option to buy at the end of the season. Todd was saying, 'Listen, we want you back here'.
"You're still on the radar of being wanted by the club. The way he is trying to set it up, there are a lot of young players he's trying to buy for the next few years. It shows he wants to integrate the players into the team and help them develop."
Plenty has changed at Chelsea since then. Boehly once again spent hundreds of millions of pounds in the January transfer window, with two new wingers both coming in on permanent deals in Mykhailo Mudryk and Noni Madueke – who both play in similar positions to Hudson-Odoi, pushing him even further down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are expected to be a very busy club again when the summer transfer window opens and you certainly wouldn't rule out another attacking player or two arriving at the club. Christopher Nkunku has agreed a deal to join the Blues at the end of the season, so there is yet another player who occupies a similar position to Hudson-Odoi.
The club are expected to review Hudson-Odoi's situation in pre-season but there simply isn't enough room for the extremely talented winger. He will have a future somewhere. Where? Well that's a difficult question at the moment. But his talent is immense and clear for everyone to see.
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