Callum Hudson-Odoi made his first appearances for Chelsea under Antonio Conte, and then took things to the next level in the following summer, when Maurizio Sarri arrived at the club.
Many players were off playing at the World Cup, so Hudson-Odoi got plenty of minutes at the start of preseason. He excelled there too, impressing everyone with how developed and mature he looked.
Everyone except, it seemed Maurizio Sarri.
The moment his senior players were back, he preferred them. Pedro and Willian took over on the wings, with Eden Hazard on the other side once he was back. Nobody thought CHO was going to play every game, but it was surprising he got so few minutes to start the season.
As it turns out, players in the Chelsea dressing room felt the same way. The Metro had quotes from Rob Green, who was backup goalie at the time:
“We were in the dressing room last season and the players were saying “how is he not playing?”,” Green said.
“He was going out in training and tearing some of the best defenders in the world apart. He was consistently the best in training. It was to the point where some of the best players in the world were standing there applauding what he was doing.”
In the end Sarri was forced to give him more and more playing time, and the rest is history.
