Why Sarri might not be the man to leave for Hudson-Odoi to have Chelsea future

After Friday’s Europa League draw it’s fair to say that many are tipping a difficult first season at Chelsea for Maurizio Sarri to end in success.

The Blues will face the tournament’s rank outsiders in Slavia Prague in the quarter-finals after all, while fellow frontrunners Napoli and Arsenal have to play one another. Moreover, the 2013 winners avoided a semi-final against the victor of said tie - instead facing the proposition of a showdown with Frankfurt or Benfica should they overcome the Czech champions as expected.

In short, the draw couldn’t have been much kinder to the under-fire Chelsea boss, who has faced criticism for a number of reasons in recent months, the majority of which boil down to what some have labelled as stubbornness, or inflexibility.

It’s meant that a number of players have been left feeling undervalued and under-used, with the Europa League proving to be the main platform to stake a claim for a more prominent place in Sarri’s thinking.

The likes of Andreas Christensen, Emerson, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Olivier Giroud have all played more minutes in Europe than the Premier League this season - with the latter scoring a Europa League high of nine goals. It is, however, Callum Hudson-Odoi’s performances in the competition that have understandably drawn the most attention as the teenager continues to be overlooked by his manager in the league.

Indeed, the fact that the 18-year-old has amassed just over 100 minutes of top-fight action and not so much as a single start seems more like self sabotage by the week. That’s not to say that Hudson-Odoi deserves to be a first team regular at such a tender age, but to some it seems as though Sarri is trying to avoid being proven wrong.

The youngster’s stats in the Europa League are unavoidable after all. A goal and assist in the 5-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv in midweek took his tallies to four and six respectively and his WhoScored.com rating to 7.84. The latter is now the best in the entire tournament despite making four of eight appearances from the bench.

When excluding said substitute appearances his rating jumps to a remarkable 9.07 from four starts. Averages of 3 shots, 3.3 key passes and 6.5 dribbles per 90 - the latter again being the best in the Europa League - highlight his confidence, while a success rate of 79 per cent from said dribbles confirms that Hudson-Odoi is the genuine article. He’s unquestionably ready to start in the Premier League.

Chelsea haven’t been playing well in the league for some time after all, so it’s not a situation whereby the competition ahead of the youngster is simply too strong or - more pertinently - in form to leave out. At this stage the fans are just waiting for the academy graduate to get his chance, and as such he would be under little to no pressure to perform instantly in the Premier League.

It’s no doubt the case that Sarri is unsure of the teenager’s ability to perform the role of the more regimented winger in his system rather than any uncertainty as to Hudson-Odoi’s now unquestionable talent. Eden Hazard is the star of the team after all, and will be for as long as he stays at Stamford Bridge, so the opposite winger in Sarri’s 4-3-3 needs to be a little more disciplined and diligent in his defensive work. The same was true of Jose Callejon at Napoli, with Lorenzo Insigne afforded more of a free role on the left.

Hudson-Odoi appears to be one luxury player too far for the Italian, who does seem convinced of the winger’s talents but, as ever, is unwilling to compromise the shape or set up of his side. There’s no doubt Bayern and more will come calling once again in the summer for a player whose future at Chelsea may yet rely on the sale of the club’s other prized asset.

Sarri’s presence isn’t the only thing blocking the youngster’s path into the first team after all, and as long as Hazard also remains at Stamford Bridge, Hudson-Odoi may remain frustrated.