Thomas Tuchel has revealed that he has tracked Callum Hudson-Odoi’s progress for almost two years, with the Chelsea head coach fully aware of the winger during his time in charge of Paris Saint-Germain.
The England international has impressed under Tuchel and our head coach has outlined the challenge to Hudson-Odoi going forward – maintain those levels on a regular basis for Chelsea.
‘I became aware of Callum during my days at Paris,’ admitted Tuchel. ‘I’d say probably two years ago. His name popped up on our radar because, clearly, he had so much potential.
‘I’ve always liked Callum because of the personality he shows on the pitch. Now I’ve got to know him better, I can say he’s a really positive guy and he always has a smile on his face.
‘We like this a lot, his positive mentality and his positive attitude on the pitch. Of course, he is also very talented and we can see his ability to speed up the game with a high-intensity run. He also shows composure on the ball and, of course, he can score and assist.
‘He’s shown his ability at youth levels and then moving up into the Premier League. These are the steps he has to take into the adult game and the challenge for Callum now is to keep working hard, keep improving and become a regular and maintain a certain level all the time.
‘That’s the challenge for Callum and we will be by his side every step of the way. He’s made a very good start but he cannot rely only on match minutes, he must keep working hard and maintaining his high levels in training too. But he is doing really well and I’m very pleased with Callum.’