Blues boss Sarri in warning to England wonder boy
MAURIZIO SARRI is urging Callum Hudson-Odoi to keep his feet on the ground.
And the Chelsea boss did his bit to bring Hudson-Odoi back to earth by telling the England new boy he still has lots of improvements to make. Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate deemed the 18-year-old winger good enough to make his international debut before he has started a league game for Chelsea. But Sarri said: “He needs to improve. And he has to stay with his feet on the floor. He has to work every day and improve the left, in the defensive phase, improve the movement without the ball.
“I want him to improve because the potential is really very, very high. And so it’s right that he continues to improve. “Otherwise we risk stopping him. He is in this moment, a very, very good player. But he has the possibility to become more.” Sarri incredibly claimed he barely saw Hudson-Odoi impress for England, watching just “20-25” minutes of either of their two games this week.
He said: “Callum didn’t start very well in the first 20 minutes on the right. He did very well on the left, immediately I know he prefers to play on the left.” The Italian dismissed claims made by former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton that Hudson-Odoi starting for England before Chelsea was “embarrassing” for the club.
He added: “We have to play eight matches in the next 28 days and so I am sure that Callum will start in two or three of them.” WILF ZAHA did not want to make a 6,000-mile round trip to have his hamstring strain checked during the international break.
And Roy Hodgson said the Crystal Palace star remains a doubt for today’s visit of Huddersfield because the long-haul trip could affect the injury.
The Eagles winger (above) missed the FA Cup defeat at Watford on March 16. But the Ivory Coast still wanted to assess the injury, even though he was unfit to play in last weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations win over Rwanda.
Hodgson said: “There is no doubt we were concerned about the travelling. We obviously relayed our concerns to the Ivory Coast.
“He would have preferred to stay here and have more treatment. And I think he has made that clear to them, so I am not speaking behind anybody’s back here.
“I believe he made that fairly clear to his manager and coach, and the authorities in the Ivory Coast.
“He didn’t think he was fit to play, he was concerned about his hamstring, and he would have preferred, given his ideal situation, to have stayed at home and had treatment.
“But he’s an Ivory Coast player, he wants to play for JUNINHO BACUNA has been taking family advice to help him deal with Huddersfield’s relegation nightmare.
The Dutch midfielder’s older brother Leandro is part of Cardiff’s bid to stay in the top flight – and was a member of the Aston Villa side who went down three years ago.
The Terriers will be relegated today if they lose at Crystal Palace, and Burnley and Southampton both win. But Bacuna (below) knows he can lean on big brother for advice when he needs to.
The 21-year-old said: “We have spoken about it. He said to just play my football and try to help the team. To show the best I can.
“He said relegation is not nice. It is not good for you as a player to be relegated.
“I look up to him and can learn a lot from him.”