Everton threaten to hijack Fulham move for Callum Hudson-Odoi with Chelsea winger ready to take pay cut to leave
Callum Hudson-Odoi is “desperate” to leave Chelsea and willing to take a pay cut to do so as Everton threaten to hijack a proposed move to Fulham, according to the Evening Standard.
The newspaper reported on their website Monday (21 August) that the English wide man has already agreed personal terms “verbally” for a switch to the Blues’ West London rivals but both the Toffees and Nottingham Forest have entered the race to snap him up.
Hudson-Odoi, 22, is reportedly on £120,000-a-week at Stamford Bridge and prepared to earn a “significant” amount less in order to depart Stamford Bridge to get his career “back on track”, but a stand-off has emerged between Chelsea and Fulham over his £8million asking-price, meaning there is “renewed” competition from Goodison Park and the City Ground.
The former England international signed his current Chelsea contract amid major interest from Bayern Munich in 2020, with the German giants having a loan-to-buy bid worth £70m rejected at the time [ESPN].
But his career has stalled in the time since amid injury and loss of form, and while he has made a total of 126 appearances for Chelsea he spent a relatively underwhelming season on loan in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen last term and is surplus to requirements with his parent club.
Hazard?
It may not involve a massive fee this time but Hudson-Odoi, in his current situation, echoes some of the unwise purchases Everton made in the previous decade to help them reach the difficult position they are now in.
At his best the attacker would certainly be an asset to this Toffees side but his best hasn’t been seen for some time now.
He is clearly still young enough to regain the promise he showed two or three seasons ago but until he has done so it seems like a pursuit that wouldn’t makes sense for Everton.
Another potential relegation scrap hardly seems like the best environment for Hudson-Odoi to find form again, and Sean Dyche is in no position to take the risk that the Chelsea man takes his time to bounce back.
It may appear to be a relatively affordable deal in this instance, with reduced wages and a fairly low fee, but there is a reason for that, and Everton jumping at the chance to land an unwanted player from a Premier League giant has rarely proven fruitful.
Potentially selling Demarai Gray, to Fulham no less, and then spending the money on a similar player who has been less productive in the past couple of seasons doesn’t seem like the most sensible move at this stage, and while the Chelsea academy product undoubtedly has quality it would be a risk to assume he can display it regularly at Goodison Park.
In other Everton news, a new contract offer has been tabled as the Toffees look to stop a potential key man from leaving amid transfer interest.