Chelsea left with egg on face over £70m bid after new laughable transfer offer

Chelsea have been left with egg on their face after receiving a £4million verbal offer from Fulham for Callum Hudson-Odoi – even if talks are now advanced between the clubs. The 22-year-old winger’s stock has plummeted drastically in the past few years and after scoring just one goal in 21 appearances in Germany on loan at Bayer Leverkusen last season, the Blues know their chances of receiving a credible fee are slim.

Yet that was not the case back in 2020 when Chelsea rejected an offer worth up to £70m for the England international, whose days at Stamford Bridge now look numbered.

It was Bayern’s fifth bid for Hudson-Odoi over a period of 18 months but Chelsea simply had no interest in doing business with the German champions as the attacker was considered central to the club’s future.

Chelsea therefore rebuffed the loan offer which included a £70m option-to-buy after deciding they had little interest in losing the player.

But fast forward nearly three years and they are struggling to find buyers that will match their £8m asking price. It seems ludicrous even if his form has fallen by the wayside.

Hudson-Odoi has undeniably had his struggles but he is still a young prospect with Champions League experience – one who is surely worth a punt.

Nottingham Forest and Lazio have also shown interest but again, both clubs seem reluctant to match Chelsea’s asking price.

Besides two Achilles tendon issues back in April 2019 and February 2022, Hudson-Odoi has not had any serious injuries that have necessarily wrecked his career.

The forward has just lacked a platform where he has been handed regular minutes and that has inevitably been a significant factor in his big drop in price.

Of course, his performances have also not helped his cause but Hudson-Odoi has often been utilised in a number of different positions which has made it difficult for him to establish some consistency.

He previously impressed at right wing-back in Thomas Tuchel’s early days as Chelsea boss but his best position is out on the flank driving at full-backs.

It comes as a big surprise that Mauricio Pochettino was not prepared to at least cast an eye over the player in pre-season after Hudson-Odoi was left behind for the tour of the United States.

Chelsea have sold a cluster of attacking players this summer including Kai Havertz, Mason Mount, Christian Pulisic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

For that reason, you’d expect Hudson-Odoi to have at least been given a chance to wipe the slate clean under a new boss in Pochettino, who is notorious for maximising the use of his squad.

Hudson-Odoi stayed behind with Hakim Ziyech and Romelu Lukaku at Cobham while the team headed across the Atlantic for the Premier League Summer Series yet still, his future hangs in the balance.

Fulham are closing in on the deal but in order to strike an agreement it appears Chelsea will once again have to slash their asking price.

Should a compromise be reached, it still feels like a terrible transaction from the Blues as Hudson-Odoi was once viewed as one of the brightest prospects to ever graduate from Cobham.

He was among the trailblazers with Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Reece James for the academy’s youngsters and offered hope that more stars would make the grade in the first-team in years to come.