Lampard appointment at Chelsea ‘to boost’ Hudson-Odoi contract talks — report

According to the Daily Mail, the chances of Callum Hudson-Odoi signing a new contract will massively improve if and when Chelsea appoint club legend Frank Lampard as the new manager to replace Maurizio Sarri, whose departure was confirmed yesterday.

Lampard, it is understood and expected, would bring back alongside himself his current assistant, Jody Morris, who was Hudson-Odoi’s coach in the Academy for multiple seasons. And while Hudson-Odoi had already broken into the first-team under Sarri, the return of Morris and Lampard is expected to boost not only his minutes, but lessen the risk of the 18-year-old choosing to not sign a new contract and leave for Bayern Munich or whoever.

Morris, who remains one of the last Chelsea Academy youth players to actually make it into the first-team as well, collecting 173 appearances from 1996-2003, is obviously a great advocate of the Chelsea youth and of the need to trust and believe in the kids.

“Some managers aren’t interested — they don’t care about youth. They judge the first team and want to get their own players in.

“The thing about Chelsea is I don’t think there’s an academy in this country that’s better, but it doesn’t look like that on paper because of the amount of players who are not playing in the first team. The players are good enough, most definitely, but the managers are not, for one, aware of them.”

-Jody Morris; September 2018

Morris, and by extension Lampard, will certainly be aware of them, and presumably will be ready to trust them. And that should indeed be a boost not only for Callum Hudson-Odoi (already on the European radar) but the likes of Tammy Abraham and Reece James as well. Hopefully. With the transfer ban in effect and set to stay in effect, this leap of faith will be most necessary.