Manchester United are reportedly considering a shock swoop for Chelsea winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, as reported by the Manchester Evening News. It has been suggested that the England winger is frustrated with Frank Lampard’s side after being limited to a handful of starts in the Premier League this season. The 19-year-old will have hoped to be playing more football than ha has done this season, playing 1,519 minutes on the pitch with some players at other clubs getting a lot more time.
However, with that said, the player has been injured three times this season, missing a total of nine matches, which does not suggest that he should have been given less playing time at the club this season. Chelsea are a club that may well be looking to the future with the likes of Willian and Pedro leaving the club this summer, which might give the liked of Hudson-Odoi more playing time from next season, but that is if the player is not that frustrated that he asks to leave this summer.
That may be a long way off but you cannot fault United if these reports are true especially as Chelsea have been trying to turn the head of Dean Henderson, who has been on loan at Sheffield United for the past two seasons, with United possibly playing their own game to frustrate the London club, who were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal in the Emirates FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday evening. This could be an option for United if they fail to sign Jadon Sancho this summer, which seems likely.
During the course of the 2019/20 season, which is still not over for Chelsea with the UEFA Champions League returning to action next week, Hudson-Odoi has made a total of 32 appearances, scoring three goals and six assists at first team level, playing in the Premier League, the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup and the Champions League. This may not be the best form of the 19-year-old, who is certainly a talented player and might need that chance to start to show his worth in the Premier League.
Solskjaer will obviously have Sancho as his number one target this summer but there will need to be other players that the club could move on to in order to get players into the club to strengthen positions. United have done well with Anthony Martial (22 goals, 10 assists), Marcus Rashford (22 goals, 10 assists) and Mason Greenwood (17 goals, five assists) but when the trio are not on the pitch, United seem to lose a lot of creativity and rotation could cost matches moving forward.
The summer will have to be a perfect summer for United, who will need three competent signings to be able to challenge the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City in the race to lift the Premier League title next season, which will be a tough task with Liverpool looking to retain their title and City aiming to win it back. United have not challenged in the league since they won it during the 2012/13 season under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, who Solskjaer will be seeking to use as his role model aiming to bring the success back to the club.
Written by John Walker
