Hudson-Odoi OUT, Mudryk IN: Chelsea left regretting huge transfer error

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 5 May 2024 03:02 CDT
• 5 min read

Callum Hudson-Odoi’s Chelsea exit was a remarkably quiet one last summer.

The former England international had been plagued by injury during his final few seasons at Stamford Bridge and was sold to Nottingham Forest for a measly €3.5 million in a deal that passed many by.

His persistent injury problems had become a real issue in west London, with Hudson-Odoi seemingly never recovering from the Achilles injury that saw him miss the Europa League final during his first season in Chelsea’s senior side.

READ MORE: Wonderkid Chelsea sold for €8m now worth more than Mudryk

The Englishman was a revelation during the Blues’ 2018-19 campaign, emerging as one of their best ever academy graduates after being handed frequent opportunities by Maurizio Sarri.

In fact, his performances were so good that many Chelsea supporters demanded for Hudson-Odoi to be included in Sarri’s preferred starting XI - something that came to fruition before his nasty Achilles injury.

Incredibly, Hudson-Odoi started for the England senior team before he had even started a Premier League match, with Gareth Southgate impressed by his displays in the Europa League. The Cobham academy star notched four goals and two assists in just 417 minutes of action in the competition, playing a key role as Chelsea went on to lift the trophy in Baku.

READ MORE: Steven Gerrard mocked over Mudryk comments

However, despite his remarkable rise to stardom at Stamford Bridge, Hudson-Odoi was unable to stay fully fit after the aforementioned Achilles injury and he left Chelsea on a permanent deal last summer.

Six months prior to his departure, Chelsea signed Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk for an initial €70m, with add-ons meaning the move may end up costing the Blues €100m.

Of course, Hudson-Odoi was on loan at Bayer Leverkusen at the time of Mudryk’s arrival, but the addition of the Ukrainian essentially spelled the end of his Chelsea career.

Considering the fee paid for Mudryk and the measly €3.5m earned through Hudson-Odoi’s sale, it’s fair to say Chelsea may well regret their actions now.

While Hudson-Odoi has found his feet at Nottingham Forest and is now excelling, Mudryk is still woefully inconsistent and has shown little value for money as things stand.

Why Chelsea will regret Callum Hudson-Odoi sale

During his time at Chelsea, Hudson-Odoi racked up over 6,000 minutes played, contributing a goal or an assist every 174 minutes across his entire career at Stamford Bridge.

Although Mudryk can’t match the Englishman’s tally of games played or minutes amassed, his goal and assist record pales in comparison. Up to this point, Mudryk has contributed a goal or an assist every 249 minutes of his Chelsea career, with 10 goal contributions since arriving from Shakhtar Donetsk.

In regards to their output this season, Hudson-Odoi has already out performed Mudryk. The Forest winger has eight goal contributions in the 2023-24 Premier League campaign with seven goals and one assist, while Mudryk has notched four goals and two assists.

With Chelsea being a superior team to Nottingham Forest, they would be expected to score more goals over the course of the season, suggesting Hudson-Odoi would be able to further exceed Mudryk’s tally if he was still at Stamford Bridge.

Furthermore, data analytics experts SciSports believe Chelsea were foolish for selling Hudson-Odoi and purchasing Mudryk.

Hudson-Odoi has a current SciSkill level of 100.3, compared to Mudryk’s current SciSkill of just 87.4. Interestingly, Hudson-Odoi would be Chelsea’s seventh best player if he was still at the club, according to SciSports, while Mudryk only ranks 19th in the Blues squad.

Furthermore, the Nottingham Forest man is expected to be the better player in the future too. Hudson-Odoi’s potential SciSkill rating is a whopping 115.3, while Mudryk can only boast a potential SciSkill rating of 97.6.

Over the past few weeks, Hudson-Odoi has looked sublime for Nottingham Forest and Mudryk has been unconvincing for Chelsea. Considering the transfer fees involved for both players, and the fact Hudson-Odoi looks like the better player, it can only go down as a huge mistake by the west London club.