Chelsea forward, Callum Hudson-Odoi turned down a call up to play for the England's U21s next month in order to stay with his club and work on his dev
Chelsea forward, Callum Hudson-Odoi turned down a call up to play for the England’s U21s next month in order to stay with his club and work on his development.
The 20-year-old held talks with the head coach of the side, Lee Carsley ahead of naming his first squad.
However, Hudson Odoi has been told to switch allegiance to play for Ghana reiterated that he didn’t feel the time was right to go away with England during the international break.
Carsley’s side face Romania away before hosting Kosovo at Stadium MK during the break.
Hudson-Odoi was named in the U21s squad for the European Championship earlier this year but withdrew through injury.
Carsley, Boothroyd’s successor, has named 13 uncapped players at this level in his squad but could not name Hudson-Odoi following talks with the Chelsea man and his advisors.
“Callum is a player that we really like,” said Carsley.
“I’ve had some really good conversations with him and his advisor and Callum felt that it wasn’t the right time for him at the minute to come with England. He’s stayed back at Chelsea to work on his development there.
“I respected that decision and that was it really.”
Hudson-Odoi will now spend the international break working with manager Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground.
Hudson-Odoi is the son of former Hearts of Oak midfielder Bismark Odoi.
He has been a long-term target of the Ghana Football Association to consider a nationality switch despite capping three times for England at the senior level.
Despite having made three competitive appearances for England’s senior team, Hudson-Odoi, 20, meets the FIFA criteria for switching countries.
A player can make up to three competitive appearances and still switch allegiance, so long as they were made under the age of 21 and were not at the ‘final stage’ of a tournament
Hudson-Odoi’s failure to make Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2020 squad therefore means he has yet to appear for England’s senior team at a major tournament, although he did feature at the European U21 Championships in March.
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