It was an announcement that many a Chelsea fan had long waited for! Finally after all the speculation, at 6:30 pm BST on September 19th the official Chelsea Twitter account sent out confirmation that Callum Hudson-Odoi had signed a new five-year deal. Wages weren’t mentioned but are suggested to be around £120,000 per week.
This was a deal that at the start of 2019 looked highly unlikely under the Sarri regime. Under the Italian, Hudson-Odoi showed his potential in the little game time he was given. However, it was frustrating to see such a highly talented player struggle to get the game time he so clearly deserved.
This was during a time when the giants of German football, Bayern Munich were doing all that they could to tempt the young Chelsea star to join them. They potentially wanted him to replicate what fellow English talent, Jadon Sancho is currently doing for Borussia Dortmund.
But over the summer the mood around Stamford Bridge changed. Maurizio Sarri was out, and Chelsea legend, Frank Lampard was brought in.
Frank quickly established that he would give the academy players a chance, and what followed has been new contracts for Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Not only new contracts but also game time for the academy players like Tammy Abraham, Fikayo Tomori and of course, Mount.
With Hudson-Odoi signed as well, the future looks bright for Chelsea. You can hear more discussion on Callum Hudson-Odoi’s 5-year deal on the latest episode of At The Bridge Pod below: