Journalist Simon Phillips believes that Callum Hudson-Odoi could return to Chelsea in January to replace Hakim Ziyech or Christian Pulisic.
Hudson-Odoi is currently on loan at Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen but, according to Bild (via Mail Online), Chelsea are considering recalling the 21-year-old.
The source suggests that both Graham Potter and co-owner Todd Boehly are huge admirers of the Englishman and could activate a clause in his loan to bring him back in January.
The £120k-per-week gem has started each of the last four games for the German club after coming off the bench to register an assist on his debut.
But Phillips has now said that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the Blues cut his time at the Bayer Arena short.
He told GIVEMESPORT: “It’s a tough one because his loan is going well. He’s getting games there and that’s the most important thing. We need him to develop and gain his confidence and his form back.
“But if he continues to do that until January and then say, for example, Chelsea decide to sell Pulisic or Ziyech or both of them even, then I can definitely see Potter going to Callum and saying, ‘Look, we need you back.’ And I think as long as he can guarantee Callum some regular game time, he’d be ok to come back.”
Three’s a crowd
In 126 appearances for the west London club, Hudson-Odoi managed to score 16 times and register 22 assists, and the three-cap England international could yet build on those numbers.
Hakim Ziyech has played just four times this season and was given just eight minutes in Potter’s first game.
It came after a disastrous introduction at Dinamo Zagreb, which saw him earn a 3/10 match rating from football.london, who slammed his ‘wasteful’ display.
He was linked with a return to Ajax in the summer and given his recent performances, Chelsea supporters would surely be happy to cut their losses.
Meanwhile, despite being dubbed “world-class” by Chelsea legend Pat Nevin, Christian Pulisic has failed to hold down a regular place at Cobham, starting just 51 times in the Premier League.
The 50-cap USA international hasn’t had much luck with injury either but considering he is only 24, he is more likely to stay than Ziyech (29) and the Moroccan’s departure could well be brought forward by a return of Hudson-Odoi.
