CHO me the door! Chelsea's Hudson-Odoi only a 'short-term' solution for Leverkusen

Ronan Murphy

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
• 3 min read

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Bayer Leverkusen managing director of sport Simon Rolfes has admitted that he has no issue with the fact that Callum Hudson-Odoi does not have a purchase clause in his loan deal from Chelsea.

When the transfer was agreed in August, many thought that the deal would include a purchase option with a buy-back clause, but new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly prevented this from happening.

It was thought that this could torpedo the move as Leverkusen usually do not make short-term deals like this, and instead prefer to develop players at the club and sign younger professionals who can improve in the medium- and long-term at the BayArena.

Hudson-Odoi was the exception that proved this rule, with Rolfes admitting that the 22-year-old former Bayern Munich target ticked all of the club's usual boxes and also provided immediate relief at a position of need.

"You need a mixture of young talent and experienced ones. Callum is quite young but he has a lot of experience already," Rolfes told FootballTransfers.

"It's also okay to have him here for one year on loan and then make the step back to Chelsea.

"For us, it was helpful because we tried to solve a short-term issue.

"I like to have someone partly here."

So far at Leverkusen, Hudson-Odoi has found some of the form he once had at Chelsea and regained his confidence, so the move has proved a success for all parties.

He started all six of Leverkusen's Champions League games, scoring one goal, and has seen his transfer value rebound to €35.7 million after it fell last season at Chelsea.