Transfer Talk: Hudson-Odoi should answer Palace's Cal as Chelsea exit looms
Four years ago, Callum Hudson-Odoi signed a long-term contract at Chelsea and seemed to have the world at his feet.
But that promise has yet to materialise into something more substantial and a move away from Stamford Bridge with one year left on the deal seems imminent.
With several Premier League teams interested in signing Hudson-Odoi, we profile a career that needs to get back on track.
Sarri season
One of the sticks that Chelsea fans beat former manager Maurizio Sarri with was his reluctance to use Hudson-Odoi.
The winger scored five goals and assisted five more in the 2018-19 season but Sarri handed more league minutes to 18 other members of his squad.
Hudson-Odoi made his England debut in the March of that season and provided an assist in his second cap, where he became the second-youngest player after Wayne Rooney to start a competitive match for the Three Lions.
So when Stamford Bridge legend Frank Lampard was appointed Blues boss in the summer of 2019, a serious breakthrough at club level seemed imminent.
Fizzling out
Having signed that new deal, however, things never got moving in the way that they were expected to.
Hudson-Odoi made just seven Premier League starts in the 2019-20 campaign and only 10 the season after, with new boss Thomas Tuchel criticising his "attitude and energy" after bringing him on as a substitute and then taking him off again in a game at Southampton.
The malaise continued into a loan spell at Bayer Leverkusen last season, where he struggled for game time and scored just one goal.
With his Chelsea career fizzling out and his England prospects seemingly non-existent, he must get this summer's move right.
Natural talent
Hudson-Odoi first appeared in Chelsea's side as a team-mate of Eden Hazard and like the Belgian, it is his dribbling skills that stand him apart when he is at his best.
The 22-year-old ranked third for dribbles in the 2018-19 Europa League campaign — the competition in which he starred — while he also impressed in the Champions League the following campaign, registering 1.4 key passes and two dribbles per match.
Chelsea's academy graduate described Hazard as a "superb role model" but his own obvious natural talent has impressed his team-mates.
England skipper Harry Kane said after Hudson-Odoi's national team debut: "As an England team, we want that flair and flexibility. It's a great sign in this country that we're producing these type of players."
And upon signing him on loan, Bayer Leverkusen chief Simon Rolfes said: "He is a fast and penetrative winger. This will give our attacking game another special component."
Though that move did not work out, those skills still exist.
Fly with the Eagles
Hudson-Odoi has interest from the Premier League and Europe as he looks to get his career back on track.
Lazio and AC Milan have been credited as potential buyers, the former clearly being in the market for a winger having attempted to purchase Wilfried Zaha.
Nottingham Forest are always sniffing around when there is a signing to be made, while Fulham are reported to have made bids for the Chelsea attacker this summer.
But should Crystal Palace lose Zaha, that hotbed of London-born talent might be the best bet to get Hudson-Odoi's career going again.