Maurizio Sarri: Callum Hudson-Odoi should ‘respect’ Chelsea and extend his stay

Sarri confirmed the winger will not be allowed to leave Stamford Bridge this month despite the 18-year-old submitting a transfer request over the weekend

Maurizio Sarri believes Callum Hudson-Odoi should respect Chelsea’s role in his development and extend his stay at the Stamford Bridge club.

Head coach Sarri confirmed the winger will not be allowed to leave Stamford Bridge this month despite the 18-year-old submitting a transfer request over the weekend in a bid to engineer a move to Bayern Munich.

The Bundesliga club have made a series of offers for the player, rising to £35million, as well as offering Hudson-Odoi a contract worth around £85,000 per week. Sarri, though, believes Hudson-Odoi’s best interests are served by remaining at Chelsea who have offered a similar deal in an effort to persuade the youngster, whose current deal has 18 months left to run, to stay.

“Callum is 18. He has to respect the club, the academy, everything. He has time,” said Sarri. “If you are one of the best young players in Europe, maybe the academy helped you. So you have to respect this.”

Asked if the player owed Chelsea, Sarri said: “I think so. Of course, he's a very great player. He will become one of the best in Europe also in another team, but he has to respect the work of the academy coaches, I think.”

And expanding on why he believes Hudson-Odoi should remain, the Italian added: “Because here, I think, it's his home. We will be patient with him because he's a boy from the academy. I don't know if, at another club, people would be patient with him after five or six matches. It's very difficult to go to another country and adapt immediately or play very well immediately. That's a difficult situation. It's better for him to try and improve here. But that's my opinion. I may not be right.

“It's not easy to keep these young players,” he said. “He is, of course, one of the best 18-year-olds in Europe, so it's very difficult. But, as I said before, the club told me he is off the market, for sure. And, probably, he will be off the market in July, too. I don't know (if he'll be happy with that), but I can say what I see on the pitch. On the pitch at the moment, he's fantastic.”

Sarri admitted he does not know if Chelsea will move to bring in a replacement this month for Cesc Fabregas, who left for Monaco recently, although he restated his belief he wants back-up for Jorginho. “You know very well my opinion,” he said. “I thought, for us, it was important to have two players. One (Gonzalo Higuain) has arrived and I am waiting for the other. But if he will arrive, I will be very happy. Otherwise I have to work with these players. It's not a big problem for me.”

Higuain, the former Juventus forward, could make his Premier League debut alongside Eden Hazard when Chelsea travel to face Bournemouth. “They will play together in training today,” Sarri said. “It will happen in a match, too. I don't know if that's tomorrow or not, but it will happen. I want to see the condition of Gonzalo first. He didn't play often in the last period, so I don't know if he's recovered. Eden rested in the last match so he will play tomorrow. I will have to decide on Gonzalo.”