Expert salutes Chelsea’s ‘final decision’ over Callum Hudson-Odoi
Chelsea were right to make the “final decision” to end Callum Hudson-Odoi’s 2021-22 campaign in order to concentrate on his rehab for 2022-23.
That is the view of injury expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
Hudson-Odoi, 21, has not featured for Chelsea since the Club World Cup final in February.
The wide man battled with an Achilles problem throughout most of the recently completed campaign.
Chelsea confirmed on Monday (27 June) that the Cobham academy graduate had returned to training early ahead of the pre-season tour of America in July.
Dinnery claims that the youngster has given himself the best possible chance of reaching peak output ahead of the new campaign.
“I don’t think we’ve seen Hudson-Odoi back to pre-injury levels since he ruptured his Achilles,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“There have been ongoing issues with that. He wasn’t involved in the latter stages of the campaign because of a muscular imbalance and inability to manage his load.
“The final decision was made to focus on next season and use the off-season to get ready for the pre-season programme. Once his teammates are back at Cobham, he can re-join the group.
“Hopefully, he can have a really successful pre-season that will put him in contention for the Premier League.
“We’re talking about a guy here who has the potential and shows flashes of brilliance. Off the back of a heavily disrupted campaign, he is going to be chomping at the bit to be involved.
“In order to do that, he needs to make sure his body is in the perfect position to deliver. There are no guarantees but if he works hard, you can’t ask for any more than that.”
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