Chelsea transfer news: Callum Hudson-Odoi not joining Bayern this month, concedes Niko Kovac

It's first round to Chelsea as the Stamford Bridge club give themselves six more months to convince the England Under-21 international his future lies in west London

Chelsea might not win the war but they've won the battle for now and will keep Callum Hudson-Odoi for the rest of the season at least after Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac conceded they won't be signing any more players this month.

The 18-year-old winger has asked to leave the club with Bayern offering £35m to Chelsea and Arjen Robben's number 10 shirt to the player in order to make him a key pillar of their impending summer rebuild.

Bayern are looking to capitalise on Hudson-Odoi's contract situation, with the teenager's deal up in the summer of 2020. It means that even though Chelsea have managed to hold onto him so far, they will have to either sign him to a new contract this off-season or sell him to avoid losing him on a free.

While the Bundesliga giants remain optimistic of their chances of signing the talented winger regardless, the Blues now have half a season to show Hudson-Odoi that there is a place for him in the Chelsea squad and convince him that his career is best-served by remaining at Stamford Bridge and the club where he grew up.

Hudson-Odoi started last weekend's FA Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday and even scored, but the wideman will be looking for regular Premier League action if he is to be convinced not to try his luck on the open market.

Former England striker Michael Owen believes it ridiculous that Hudson-Odoi would get more playing time at Bayern than Chelsea.

"I've been interested in this sort of thing for five or six years now and had a meeting with the FA about the whole dynamic of youngsters coming through and what we needed to do to change, whether that be the loan market or introducing B teams into the leagues," Owen told the Press Association.

"The FA have made one or two changes to make it better but we are still seeing players going abroad to further their careers and get more game time.

"I commend that but the strange one in this situation is how anybody thinks that a player can leave Chelsea and go to a team like Bayern Munich and then be guaranteed to play even more.

"It's Bayern Munich for crying out loud. It's not a weak team on the continent. We're talking Bayern Munich.

"I'm not sure anybody has ever been given absolute assurances that they're going to play X amount of games when they've been signed. I can't understand why everyone assumes you would go to Bayern Munich and be guaranteed to play more than you would at Chelsea.

"We are talking another level up and one of the top five clubs in the world. Have a look at Bayern's team. It's not bad and it's not going to be easy to penetrate into that.

"I admire anybody that is doing it for the right reasons, but he is only 18 and is integrating into the first team. I don't think Chelsea are doing a bad job in blooding a talented youngster."