Gianfranco Zola hopes Callum Hudson-Odoi stays at Chelsea
Hudson-Odoi submitted a transfer request ahead of Thursday's transfer deadline
Sunday 27 January 2019 21:43, UK
Chelsea assistant boss Gianfranco Zola hopes Callum Hudson-Odoi's goal against Sheffield Wednesday will not be his last for the club.
Hudson-Odoi scored on what could be his final Chelsea appearance and Willian netted twice as the FA Cup holders advanced with a 3-0 fourth-round win over the Championship Owls at Stamford Bridge.
Hudson-Odoi started despite submitting a transfer request ahead of Thursday's transfer deadline and the 18-year-old winger netted Chelsea's second after 64 minutes.
The Chelsea fans immediately began to sing "we want you to stay", and Zola smiled: "We want him to stay as well, we were singing too.
"He has a contract. We believe in what he can do for this team. I don't think there are many 18-year-old players around Europe that are are playing as much as him in a big team.
"If you look at Juventus, all the big teams, they don't have many 18-year-old players playing like we do. That shows that we believe in him, we think he can be an important player for us, so we will see what happens.
"We can do as much as we can do. From our point of view he has a lot of strong players next to him. But we still find the space for him to play.
"Did he look like he didn't want to play? Yesterday in training he scored a fantastic goal."
